Interface News Reporter | Huang Shan
Interface News Editor | Lou Jingqin
Starting from January 1, 2024, the 29-year-old French rich second generation Frédéric Arnault has become the leader of the new "watch kingdom" within the LVMH group, specifically in charge of the three watch brands TAG Heuer, Zenith and Hublot.
Frédéric Arnault is the fourth child of Bernard Arnault, Chairman of the Board of Directors of LVMH. According to the Forbes list of the world's billionaires, Arnault and his family surpassed Elon Musk, founder and president of Tesla, with a net worth of 211 billion US dollars (about 1.51 trillion yuan), and became the world's richest man in 2023.
On January 5, LVMH announced the appointment of Frédéric Arnault. The three watch divisions are now consolidated under a new "LVMH Watches" section, with Frédéric Arnault as its first CEO.
Originally, the three brands of TAG Heuer, Zenith and Hublot were part of the LVMH group's "Watches & Jewelry" business segment, which had been relatively independent for a long time, without a dedicated leader. The reorganization within the group, with the descendants of the company's holding family taking over the management, can be seen as another signal that the LVMH group has stepped up its investment in the watch industry.
In a press statement, LVMH said that Frédéric Arnault's appointment "will ensure strong and sustainable growth for several watch Maisons, while strengthening LVMH's position in the watchmaking industry." It is worth noting that Frédéric still needs to report to Stéphane Bianchi, President of the Group's Watches & Jewellery business unit.
Prior to his new appointment, Frédéric Arnault spent six years at TAG Heuer. When he joined TAG Heuer in 2017, he was responsible for building a 60-person smartwatch team in TAG Heuer's Paris office. Until 2020, Frédéric was promoted to CEO of TAG Heuer, where he led the transformation of the brand's product line and brand renewal.
With the reshuffle of Frédéric Arnault's position, the leadership of these watch brands has also changed.
First up was TAG Heuer, where former Zenith CEO Julien Tornare took over as CEO. As a result, Zenith has welcomed a new brand leader, Benoit De Clerck. He previously served as Chief Commercial Officer of Panerai, the Italian luxury watchmaking brand owned by Richemont (LVMH's main competitor).
Ricardo Guadalupe, President of Hublot, remains in his position. After this round of reshuffling, the three Maisons will all report to Frédéric Arnault.
At this point, the second generation of the Arnault family and the faction it represents have begun to emerge in the power structure within the LVMH group.
Frédéric Arnault出生于1995年,为巴纳德·阿尔诺第二任妻子Hélène Mercier所生,在家中排行老四。 其母亲共育有三子,除了Frédéric,还有一位稍年长的Alexandre Arnault(1992年生),以及年龄最小的Jean Arnault(1998年所生)。
Alexandre Arnault is currently the Executive Vice President of Product and Communications at Tiffany &Co., a U.S. fine jewelry brand. LVMH completed the acquisition of Tiffany & Co. in early 2021 and began a series of reforms, including sending senior professional managers and cronies from its French headquarters to New York to lead the brand reform, and Alexandre is a representative of the Arnault family.
Jean Arnault is currently the head of the watch business of Louis Vuitton. In addition to reorganizing Louis Vuitton's watch product line and developing new products, Jean also led the "LVMH Watch Prize" to attract talents in the industry and expand the brand's influence in the industry. In addition, Louis Vuitton's Haute Horlogerie division is currently responsible for the revival of two separate watchmaking brands, Gérald Genta and Daniel Rothd.
In other words, Hélène Mercier's three children with the richest man are mainly in the hard luxury business of the family business.
In the first nine months of 2023, LVMH's "Watches and Jewelry" business revenue was 7.575 billion euros (about 58.809 billion yuan), making it the third largest business segment. According to the Financial Times, Frédéric Arnault revealed in an interview that the total revenue of the three brands of TAG Heuer, Zenith and Hublot is 1.6 billion Swiss francs (about 13.376 billion yuan). It is clear that the hard luxury business that generates more turnover for the LVMH group is still the two jewelry brands Bulgari and Tiffany & Co.
However, there is a big gap between the hard luxury business and the group's "fashion and leather goods" business. As the most profitable business segment of the LVMH Group, the "Fashion & Leather Goods" division recorded 27.823 billion euros (about 216.4 billion yuan) in the first three quarters of 2023, achieving a year-on-year increase of 16%. Among them, Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior are the two most profitable luxury brands.
Currently, Dior is Chairman and CEO of Delphine Arnault, whose term of office begins in January 2023. Delphine was born to Bernard Arnold's first wife, Anne Dewavrin, and was the eldest of several siblings. She is also a member of the LVMH Group's Executive Committee and Board of Directors. The "LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers" led by her has long become an industry benchmark and is one of the most influential awards in the fashion industry.
Delphine, 49, followed her father on a Dior tour when she was 7 years old. At the age of 17, he began selling perfumes at Dior Beauty, and since then has risen to the position of "number one". These details are reflected in a 2023 report by The New York Times about the Arnault family. In a rare move, the family member spoke about the family affair in front of an international media outlet.
Also focusing on fashion and the group's business is Antoine Arnault, Delphine's younger brother and second child born to Barnard Arnault's ex-wife. Since 2018, Antoine Arnault has been responsible for the Group's Communications and Environment affairs, and he was a key figure in the Group's sponsorship of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Since 2022, Antoine has been CEO of Christian Dior SE, a family-owned company, and Chairman of Loro Piana, a top cashmere apparel brand.
Born to Barnard Arnault's first wife and much older, Delphine and Antoine are now clearly in positions of power in the group, and have more say than their three half-brothers. However, Barnard Arnault's path to raising children is similar.
"I don't want them to go to a party. Barnard Arnault mentioned in the aforementioned New York Times report, "I let them go to work. ”
His eldest daughter, Delphine, spent her childhood in the process of her father's transformation of Dior from a loss-making haute couture brand into a full-fledged commercial brand that generated huge cash income from perfumes and handbags. Now, in order to win the jewelry and professional watchmaking segments, the two segments that the LVMH group has never been able to become the first, Barnard Arnault asked his three sons born in the 90s to also start as junior supervisors, and under the leadership of experienced professional managers within the group, after several years of training, they were finally promoted to important positions. Of course, the starting point of his three sons is much higher than ordinary people.
After several management reshuffles over the years, Barnard Arnault has placed all of his children in key positions in different business segments of the group. To some extent, a "war of succession" has begun.
However, neither Barnard Arnault himself nor several children have denied this claim.
"The successor can be from within the family, or from outside, as long as he is the best. In the report, Barnard Arnault said, "But I don't want this [internal] battle to happen in the near future." From himself to his children, Barnard Arnault will continue to lead the company.
On the other hand, these siblings also denied the rumors of disagreement between them. "I know it's going to disappoint a lot of people. "But we actually get along pretty well." ”