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Antoine Arnault’s departure as CEO of Berluti highlights the balletic moves of LVMH founder, Bernard Arnault, to equip his five children with the executive skills for one to eventually succeed him.
Effective 1 January 2024, Chaumet CEO Jean-Marc Mansvelt will succeed Antoine, while Charles Leung, chief executive of Fred, will succeed Mansvelt at Chaumet, LVMH announced on Wednesday.
“I am very happy and quite emotional to welcome Jean-Marc as the new CEO of the exceptional maison Berluti, building on values of elegance, audacity and unique savoir faire. Jean-Marc’s wealth of experience that he has demonstrated throughout these years will be decisive assets in driving the ongoing development of Berluti,” Antoine said in a statement.
In an internal note seen by Vogue Business, the executive wrote: “As for me, I'll never be far away. New adventures await me, to be announced shortly, but I'll always keep a watchful and passionate eye on Berluti. Always.”
Bernard Arnault’s eldest son is CEO of Berluti and chairman of Loro Piana. The two brands are on a roll, he tells Vogue Business.
Eldest son Antoine, 46, has moved through roles that have given him wide command of luxury industry roles, from communication and branding to building a fashion house and overseeing the conglomerate’s central operations. He has been the force behind LVMH’s sponsorship of the Paris Olympics and will remain chairman of both Berluti and Loro Piana. Antoine has also served as chief executive of the family holding company, Christian Dior SE, since December 2022. Such a role that oversees the heart of the Arnault family’s wealth could explain this latest move.
Stepping down from Berluti, a shift first reported by WWD, could give Antoine more time to focus on the holding company, which more than controls the Arnault family’s assets. Due to the complex nature of the corporate structure, it essentially controls the publicly traded LVMH. Prior to Antoine accepting that job, the role was held by one of Bernard Arnault’s most trusted advisors, Sidney Toledano.
Upon joining Berluti in 2012, Antoine expanded operations at the Italian footwear and leather goods label, adding prêt-a-porter menswear upon buying up a Parisian tailoring house that year. He later took on an additional role as chairman of Loro Piana, in which LVMH had taken a controlling stake in 2013. Since then, Loro Piana has prospered to rival Brunello Cucinelli in dressing the Silicon Valley tech elite, among other billionaire-class members in quiet, expensive luxury. His 11 years at Berluti are one of the longer stints for an Arnault scion in a single job at the luxury conglomerate.
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Unlike the warring Murdoch media-tycoon family, upon whom the TV series Succession was based, the Arnault family remains disciplined and, by all appearances, friendly. There are no public displays of dispute or rebellion despite the patriarch’s five children from two marriages.
Antoine’s sister, Delphine Arnault, the eldest child at 48, has for several years focused on discovering creative talent, becoming what amounts to LVMH’s chief talent scout among many other roles. She founded the LVMH Prize, the richest award in fashion and a channel through which young LVMH creative directors have emerged. Delphine serves as the chairman and chief executive of Christian Dior Couture, the fashion label that is controlled by, yet separate from, the family holding company, following her previous role as executive vice president at Louis Vuitton. The Christian Dior Couture brand is the apple of Bernard’s eye, as it was the first significant luxury label that he invested in in 1984. It was the beginning of his rise to become one of the world’s richest people.
Alexandre Arnault, 31, has generated speculation that he might one day challenge Antoine’s expansive role at LVMH. The eldest of three sons born to Bernard and his second wife, the Canadian classical pianist Hélène Mercer, Alexandre joined LVMH shortly after graduating from Paris’s elite École Polytechnique with a master’s in innovation in 2015.
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With just two summer internships at McKinsey and KKR under his belt, Alexandre almost immediately led LVMH’s acquisition of the German luggage maker Rimowa and, as its CEO, set about applying the family’s well-tried formula for expanding a small luxury brand into a lifestyle label, taking the retail network in-house and expanding product lines at more affordable prices with snazzy celebrity-laden ad campaigns. In another sign of his father’s trust, Alexandre took a senior role at Tiffany & Co after LVMH acquired the American jewellery brand in 2021.
At Rimowa and Tiffany, Alexandre has shown a savvy millennial grasp of social media, unlike his more private elder siblings, promoting products and ad campaigns and his own life on Instagram. Last week, he proudly posted that he had broken three hours to finish running in the New York marathon. He has also displayed an ability to parlay his connections with art and music world stars such as Beyonce, Jay-Z, and visual artist Alex Israel into ad campaigns and product lines. Israel designed luggage for Rimowa. Beyonce and Jay-Z, who attended Alexandre’s recent wedding in Venice, have starred as models for several Tiffany ad campaigns.
Alexandre’s two younger brothers have had fewer years to establish themselves, but like him, they have been more open to social media and being profiled in the press at an early age than their elder half-siblings. They have been assigned executive roles at LVMH brands as their family business educations play out. Frédéric, 28, became CEO of the Tag Heuer watch brand in 2020. Twenty-five-year-old Jean is head of watches at Louis Vuitton, where it has been said he is delving further into luxury and rarity, profit margins be damned.
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