LVMH-king Bernard Arnault prepares succession

The king of luxury, Bernard Arnault, is preparing his succession as majority shareholder and CEO of French conglomerate LVMH. His five children will have to have some patience, however, as the 73-year old billionaire is not going anywhere soon.

Who will be crown prince(ss)?

Arnault is setting up a new company above his family holding company, whose shares will be divided equally among his five children. However, there is a catch: the children, who are all active in the company, are not allowed to sell their share in the new partnership for thirty years, Reuters reports.

In this way, the world’s second richest man wants to avoid an outsider seizing power or a hostile takeover. Arnault hopes that in the coming decades at least one of his children will want to take over the torch from him. Although they all have leading positions, there is not yet a clear successor to the throne.

However, the succession problem will not arise immediately: for the time being, Arnault is still holding the reins. At the previous general meeting, he had already ensured that he could remain CEO until the age of 80. He will only have to step down as chairman of the board at the age of 75. Bernard Arnault owns 48 % of the listed company LVMH. The company promises that this shareholding will not change, but the new company only guarantees that “the family will retain control in the long term”.