Who will lead the LVMH luxury empire?

BERNARD ARNAULT likes to describe LVMH as une affaire de famille. The world’s richest man calling the €400bn ($425bn) luxury empire, of which he is chief executive, chairman and controlling shareholder, “a family business” is both a humblebrag and true. All five of his children work for him. And at LVMH’s annual general meeting on April 18th, after we published this, two of his sons (Alexandre and Frédéric) are poised to join Delphine and Antoine, his eldest offspring from his first marriage, on its board. Only 26-year-old Jean, the youngest, does not have a board seat (yet).

Arnault père can head LVMH for another five years. In 2022 shareholders, who credited the then-73-year-old with minting their fortunes as well as his own (see chart), happily amended the company’s by-laws to raise the mandatory retirement age for the CEO from 75 to 80. The wolf in cashmere, as the billionaire is known thanks to his killer dealmaking instincts, is showing no signs of letting up. But the boardroom reshuffle and other recent job moves suggest the succession plans for his lupine litter are well under way.