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  4. The world's richest person has made his daughter the CEO of Dior. All 4 of his sons have top roles at his companies, too.

The world's richest person has made his daughter the CEO of Dior. All 4 of his sons have top roles at his companies, too.

The world's richest person has made his daughter the CEO of Dior. All 4 of his sons have top roles at his companies, too.
Alexandre Arnault, Antoine Arnault and Delphine Arnault with their father Bernard.Vianney Le Caer/AP
  • Bernard Arnault has named his daughter Delphine as Dior's next CEO.
  • Arnault has four other children – and they all work across LVMH and its brands, too.

Luxury-goods mogul Bernard Arnault is the world's richest person

Luxury-goods mogul Bernard Arnault is the world
Eric Piermont/Getty Images

Bernard Arnault is the world's richest person with a net worth of about $182 billion, putting him $50 billion ahead of Elon Musk.

Arnault cofounded LVMH in the 1980s, and is its CEO and chair. The French luxury conglomerate owns a range of brands covering fashion, perfume, jewelry, watches, and alcohol including Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, Moët & Chandon, Fenty Beauty, and Tiffany & Co.

On Wednesday, LVMH announced that Arnault's daughter, Delphine, would become CEO of Dior.

But it's not just Delphine who's risen up LVMH's ranks. All four of Bernard's sons work at LVMH and its brands, too.

"Succession planning in strategic roles has been instrumental to the success of LVMH's key brands over the past 20 years," Citi analyst Thomas Chauvet said, per Reuters.

Arnault, 73, has not said who he wants to take over from him, but it's a topic that gets discussed every time he gives one of his offspring a new role. Last year LVMH raised the age limit of its CEO from 75 to 80, extending Arnault's possible tenure.

His oldest child – and only daughter – is the new CEO of Dior

His oldest child – and only daughter – is the new CEO of Dior
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Delphine, born in 1975, is the eldest of Bernard's five children, and his only daughter.

She started her career at McKinsey, where she spent two years as a consultant before moving to designer John Galliano's company.

Delphine worked at Christian Dior Couture as its deputy managing director from 2001 to 2013, before spending a decade at as an executive vice president of Louis Vuitton, LVMH's biggest brand.

She will start as the CEO and chair of Dior on February 1, LVMH announced on Wednesday.

Delphine sits on LVMH's board of directors and is a member of its executive committee – only the second woman to join it, and its youngest member when she joined it at 43.

Antoine Arnault is the CEO of LVMH's parent company

Antoine Arnault is the CEO of LVMH
Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

Antoine is Bernard's oldest son, born in 1977. Like Delphine, Antoine was born to Bernard's first wife, Anne Dewavrin.

Antoine started working at LVMH in 2005 in its advertising department. Just two years later, he was appointed director of communications at Louis Vuitton, where he launched campaigns with public figures ranging from Angelina Jolie and Bono to Muhammad Ali and Mikhail Gorbachev.

In December, Antoine was appointed CEO of Christian Dior SE, the holding company the family uses to control LVMH. He's also the CEO of shoemaker Berluti and non-executive chair of cashmere label Loro Piana.

Antoine became a board member at LVMH in 2006 and has been the company's head of image and environment since 2018.

Alexandre became an executive VP at Tiffany & Co. after LVMH bought the jeweler

Alexandre became an executive VP at Tiffany & Co. after LVMH bought the jeweler
Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

Alexandre was born in 1992, Bernard's first son to his second wife, Helene Mercier, and is an executive vice president at Tiffany & Co.

After interning in New York at McKinsey and KKR, Alexandre moved to his father's retail empire, where he worked on digital innovation.

"I was obviously raised to be in the group," Alexandre told The New York Times in 2018, adding that it was ultimately his choice to work at LVMH and that he turned down offers from McKinsey and KKR.

Alexandre spent about four years as the CEO of German luggage brand Rimowa after reportedly persuading his father to buy it in 2016. During his time at the helm he revitalized Rimowa, including launching collaborations with Supreme and Off-White.

After LVMH bought Tiffany & Co. for $15.8 billion in 2020, Alexandre became executive vice president of product and communications at the jewelry maker at just 28 years of age.

Frédéric is the CEO of Tag Heuer

Frédéric is the CEO of Tag Heuer
Guillaume Souvant/Getty Images

Frédéric, born in 1995, is the CEO of TAG Heuer.

After interning at Facebook and McKinsey and a brief period running a mobile payment startup, Frédéric quickly moved up the ranks at LVMH.

He joined the company full-time in 2017 as the temporary head of connected technologies at the Swiss watchmaker. Just a year later, he became TAG's director of strategy and digital. In 2020, he was named the brand's CEO at the age of 25.

The New York Times reported that the elder Arnault had groomed Frédéric to become TAG Heuer's leader from the start, though this wasn't entirely smooth sailing.

Stéphane Bianchi, who was CEO of TAG before Frédéric and tasked with training his successor, told the newspaper they clashed "everywhere" at the start.

In his time running the company, Frédéric has focused on connected watches, orchestrated a shift from wholesale to retail and grown its ecommerce sales, and negotiated a partnership with Porsche.

Bernard's youngest son Jean runs Louis Vuitton's watches division

Bernard
Jean Arnault (right) with his brother Frédéric.      Dave Benett/Getty Images

Jean Arnault is Bernard's youngest son and joined LVMH after graduating. He has a master's in financial mathematics from MIT and another in mechanical engineering from Imperial College, London, according to the Financial Times.

As a student, he interned at both Morgan Stanley and McLaren Racing and had a short stint at a Louis Vuitton retail store in Paris, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Jean became marketing and development director of Louis Vuitton's watch division in August 2021 at the age of 23, just months after he graduated. He's now the brand's watches director.

Jean told the FT that his older brother Frédéric's work at TAG Heuer had sparked his interest in watchmaking.

"We have a close relationship and he started talking to me about the new watches and all the different things he was working on," Jean said. "I was fascinated. And that's really the turning point."

Jean told The New York Times in November that he still turns to Frédéric for work advice.


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