PARIS, Dec 9 (Reuters) – Antoine Arnault, the eldest son of LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault, was appointed chief executive of family-owned Christian Dior SE on Friday, replacing veteran executive Sidney Toledano and raising succession speculation at the group.
Christian Dior is a publicly traded company that owns the majority of the Arnault family’s stake in LVMH (LVMH.PA), the world’s largest luxury group.
The move raises the stature of Antoine, 45, one of Arnault’s five children, all of whom hold senior positions at LVMH, the group behind fashion houses Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, as well as brands ranging from champagne up to five stars. Hotels
His appointment follows a change in the legal structure of the family’s investment to ensure its control of LVMH, with holding company Agache, which owns shares in Christian Dior SE, becoming a public limited company on Tuesday.
The family’s tightening of control over its empire also comes amid a wave of high-profile successions at other fashion companies in Europe.
Earlier this week, Italian fashion group Prada (1913.F) named former Luxottica boss Andrea Guerra as chief executive as part of a strategy to ease the transition to leadership for the next generation of the founding family.
At Inditex, which owns Zara, Marta Ortega, the youngest daughter of its founder Amancio Ortega, became president in July.
At LVMH, Antoine Arnault, a business school graduate and board member since 2006, oversees the group’s communications and environmental issues, driving efforts to bolster its reputation.
[1/4] Antoine Arnault, CEO of Berluti, attends the Fall/Winter 2019-2020 collection show for the Berluti fashion house during Men’s Fashion Week in Paris, France, January 18, 2019. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/ Stock Photo
He is married to Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova and frequently gives presentations on the group’s environmental efforts and organizes events such as public tours of workshops and factories.
For the past decade, he has been CEO of the high-end brand Berluti, known for its $2,000-plus priced in polished leather shoes and bespoke tailoring for men. He is also the president of the Italian label Loro Piana.
LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault, 73, has not publicly named his successor to lead the growing luxury empire he built through acquisitions that began with Christian Dior.
The fashion brand was incorporated into the LVMH group in 2017, and Christian Dior SE now owns 41% of LVMH, which corresponds to 56% of the voting rights in the group.
Bernard Arnault, who often speaks at company events and last week attended a White House dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron, has shown no sign of planning to step down anytime soon.
LVMH raised the maximum age of its chief executive from 75 to 80 in April.
Antoine and his older sister Delphine, 47, are the children of their father’s first marriage. Both are part of the board of directors of the group.
Alexandre Arnault, 30, is an executive at Tiffany & Co., while Frederic Arnault, 27, is CEO of TAG Heuer. The youngest, Jean Arnault, 24, heads marketing and product development for Louis Vuitton’s watch division.
Bernard Arnault and his family briefly took the title of the world’s richest earlier this week, but returned to No. 2, behind Elon Musk, with a personal wealth of $185.3 billion, according to Forbes.
Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and Mimosa Spencer; Edited by Jason Neely, Clarence Fernandez, Louise Heavens, and Arun Koyyur
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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