Bernard Arnault Net Worth: How Much Is The Louis Vuitton CEO Worth?

Bernard Arnault, Chairman and Chief Executive of LVMH, the world's largest luxury-goods company has stormed into the Forbe’s billionaires club to the No 2 position as the world’s second-richest person.

Arnault with a net worth of $103.7 billion, as of June 2019, is 70-years old and also controls 97 percent stake in Christian Dior, the mega fashion house.

Arnault’s business empire oversees 70 brands including Louis Vuitton and Sephora. His daughter Delphine is executive vice president of Louis Vuitton and a member of LVMH's executive board.

Arnault entry into the big club followed LVMH’s stock zooming to a record of 368.80 euros per share.

In 2018 alone, the French billionaire added $39 billion to his fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

While taking the new position in Forbe’s billionaire list, Arnault has moved its long-time occupant and the Microsoft founder to the third position.

Arnault is already the richest person in Europe and became the fashion industry’s wealthiest man after he displaced Zara's Amancio Ortega from that slot in April 2018.

Modest beginning

Arnault’s early innings in business were modest. He took his engineering degree in 1971 from École Polytechnique in Palaiseau and joined his father's company.

Jean Leon Arnault was running a civil engineering company named Ferret-Savinel.

In 1976, he convinced his father to disband the construction business and move into real estate.

After selling the company for 40 million French francs they started a new company named Férinel that was focused on holiday accommodation.

Arnault rose to become the Director of business development in 1974, CEO in 1977 and president of the company, two years later.

The takeover of Boussac that won Christian Dior

The year 1984 was a watershed in Arnault’s career when he acquired luxury Goods Company named the Financière Agache.

After settling himself as the CEO of Financière Agache, he took control of an ailing textile company Boussac Saint-Frères that owned the brand, Christian Dior.

In 1988, Arnault sold off the bulk of that company’s business and retained the prestigious Christian Dior brand and Le Bon Marché department store.

He used the sale proceeds to buy a controlling stake in LVMH.

Management style focused on decentralization

Arnault’s captaincy of LVMH saw its market value zoom at least fifteen-fold in 11 years and sales and profit surge 500 percent.

The ambitious development plans transformed LVMH into a mega luxury group in league with Swiss luxury giant Richemont and French-based Kering.

According to analysts, the success of the group has more to do with Arnault’s management style of decentralization of the group's brands in making them stand out as independent entities with own history.

In the 1990s, Arnault started building a base in the United States and opened the LVMH Tower in December 1999.

Patron of art

Arnault is also known as a passionate art enthusiast. He has been the patron of the $135 million Foundation Louis Vuitton museum near Paris, opened in 2014.

His art collection comprises pieces by masters such as Damien Hirst, Pablo Picasso Maurizio Cattelan, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Andy Warhol.

Arnault is also into charity and is among the business titans who pledged $650 million to repair the Notre-Dame cathedral hit by heavy fire in April.