Luxury giants give 300 million to Notre-Dame

French luxury icon families Arnault (LVMH) and Pinault (Kering) are springing to the aid of Notre-Dame in Paris, which has been damaged by fire. Together they have already donated 300 million euros for the reconstruction of the iconic cathedral.

Restoring French jewel to its former glory

Less than a day after the fire in the famous Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, French luxury icons Bernard Arnault and François Pinault have dug deep into their wallets: together, the billionaires behind luxury houses of LVMH and Kering have donated 300 million euros for the reconstruction. With this, they are responding to the appeal of President Macron.

The Artemis holding company of the Pinault family provided for one hundred million euro: “This is a tragedy and everybody wants to restore this French heritage jewel to its former glory”, Pinault commented. His Kering group has Gucci and Yves Saint-Laurent among their companies.

Out-performed by Bernard Arnault

Promptly after that gesture, Pinault’s arch rival Bernard Arnault also signed in. The chairman and co-owner of luxury group LVMH went a step further and donated 200 million euro for the repairs to the Parisian church. As the man behind brands such as Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon and Sephora, he has earned himself the title of the world’s third richest man.

Both billionaires are known as great art lovers and collectors: Bernard Arnault even had a private museum “Fondation Louis Vuitton” built on the edge of Paris for his own art collection. The museum opened its doors to the general public in 2014 amidst international interest. However, not everyone is equally impressed with both donations, pointing out that they can be tax deductible for up to 90 %.