Every month the six of them get together in one of the lounge rooms on the ninth and top floor of the LVMH headquarters at 22 Avenue Montaigne, Paris. The five children, born from two different marriages – Delphine, Antoine, Alexandre, Frédéric and Jean – surround their father, Bernard Arnault. They look strikingly similar: tall, slender, with high foreheads and light-colored eyes, all perfectly polite, with an impeccable, composed look thanks to the group's brands – Dior, Vuitton, Berluti, etc. – giving them a permanent "fresh out of the dry cleaners" kind of look.
The six of them speak to each other several times a day. Most of them are neighbors in the chic districts of Paris. They regularly cross paths at fashion shows, and one of the five will always accompany the father, owner and CEO of the world's number one luxury goods company, on his weekly tour of the group's stores on Avenue Montaigne, at the Le Bon Marché department store, or in the recently-renovated Samaritaine department store in the center of Paris. The monthly meeting at the headquarters, however, is special. It is partly a family lunch, partly a mini-board of directors meeting and, above all, it is a high-flying course in business practice.
The eldest son Antoine Arnault, 44, has a soft look and a three-day beard. He is anxious to humanize the clan's public image. He does not quite see it like this, calling the meeting "an opportunity to get together and talk about our lives." But his father quickly corrected him: "Let's face it, we mostly talk about issues relating to the business." It is Arnault Senior who draws up the agenda for the lunch each month on his iPad, with his usual chilling rigor. The meal, strictly healthy, should not last more than an hour and a half. The hiring of a designer, the opening of a boutique, the acquisition of a new brand... The patriarch submits everything to the judgment of his children, allowing them all to have their say.
'Our father, our boss'
"Don't be fooled," said Jean, the youngest, who just finished his studies and is preparing to enter the business like his older siblings. "Ultimately, he is always the one to make the final decision." The five heirs are learning the ropes under their father's guidance, like young lions learning to hunt in front of the king of the clan, who will, one day, decide who will be his successor. Alexandre, the third in line, finds it hard to mask his appetite for power, and sums up in one sentence the strange mixture of blood ties and business: "He is our father, of course, but also our boss."
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