World’s richest man Bernard Arnault wary of succession fight

Bernard Arnault, the richest man in the world, is laying the groundwork for a succession plan that would head off any potential fighting amongst his five children for his $196 billion fortune, according to a report.

Arnault, the 73-year-old CEO of LVMH — the French luxury conglomerate which makes Louis Vuitton handbags and Dom Perignon champagne — has created a new holding company that splits his fortune equally among his kids, according to Bloomberg News.

The new company is key to Arnault’s vision of LVMH remaining under family control, though observers do not know which of his five children — all of whom work in the business — will assume the mantle of LVMH’s chief executive.

Arnault fathered two children — Delphine, 47, and Antoine, 45 — with his first wife and has three children from his current marriage — sons Alexandre, 30; Frederic, 28; and Jean, 24.

In December, Antoine was named CEO of Christian Dior SE. At around the same time, his sister, Delphine, was tapped to head the Christian Dior Couture brand. She had previously been in charge of overseeing products at the Louis Vuitton division of the company.

The promotions ignited speculation within European business circles about Arnault’s future succession plans.

The Post has sought comment from LVMH.

Alexandre runs product and communications at another family property, the jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co., while Frédéric is in charge of Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer.

Jean has been placed in charge of a new division at Louis Vuitton that will manufacture watches.

The Arnault family controls around 48% of LVMH shares, granting it 64% of the voting rights, according to securities filings.

Most of the shareholding is through the Christian Dior SE holding company.

The Paris-based luxury goods empire, whose shares are traded on the CAC 40 Euronext Paris index, is worth $454.29 billion, making it the most valuable company in Europe.

It owns several well-known brand names including Sephora, Fendi, Givenchy, Stella McCartney, Marc Jacobs and Bulgari.

While other retailers have struggled in recent years, LVMH has continued dominating the luxury goods space. In the fourth quarter of last year, LVMH sales rose 9% year-over year. In 2022, the company boosted its sales by 23% to a record $86 billion.

The strong sales numbers have catapulted Bernard Arnault to the top of the list of world’s richest moguls — dethroning mainstays from recent years such as Tesla boss Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Bernard Arnault molded his empire by successfully merging Moët Hennessy and Louis Vuitton to form LVMH.

While observers wonder about the future of the company, the patriarch doesn’t seem to show any signs of slowing down in the near term.

Bernard Arnault recently arranged for his company to change the bylaws which previously required anyone who reached the age of 75 to retire. The new retirement threshold age is 80.

The CEO is reported to maintain a rigorously healthy lifestyle — prompting observers to predict that he will looks to raise the retirement age again and even die on the job, according to Bloomberg News.