Bernard Arnault

1 Bernard Arnault is the Chairman & chief executive officer of luxury goods company, Moét Hennessy Louis
Vuitton.
2 Both Arnault as well as his wife Helene Mercier are accomplished pianists.
􀂙 After graduating from the École Polytechnique, France's esteemed engineering school, Arnault worked as
an engineer and ran his family's construction and property business firm, Ferret-Savinel.
3 He spearheaded the company's move into the lucrative new niche of building time shares on the Riviera.
4 When the French Socialists rose to power in 1981, Arnault immigrated to the United States. He prospered,
developing condominiums in Palm Beach, Florida.
5 The French Socialists switched to a more conservative economic course in 1983, prompting Arnault to return
to his native France.
6 His rise to control of the world’s largest luxury group began with an opportunity created when a textile firm,
Boussac, went bankrupt. The textile firm owned the prized couture house of Christian Dior.
7 Arnault was involved in a bitter struggle for control of LVMH in 1989 with Henry Racamier, the former
chairman of LVMH’s Louis Vuitton subsidiary and a member by marriage of one of the firm’s founding
families.
8 Although he concluded early in life that he did not have the mettle for a career as a concert pianist, Arnault
was classically trained and made time to practice Chopin, Liszt, and Schumann. Both his wife and mother
were pianists as well.