Bernard Arnault is the founder of the #1 luxury group LVMH, composed by 70 brands. His interests include leather goods, jewelry and watches, wines and spirits. Global and niche brands. All of them prestigious and renown.
His real time net worth today is estimated by Forbes at $ 84.9 billion and he is ranked #4 in the magazine 2018 billionaires list, before Facebook Zuckerberg and Zara Ortega.
He bought Christian Dior in 1985 with $15 million coming from his father assets.
In a time when competitor groups re-organize their brand portfolio to focus on luxury, in a recent interview to CNBC Arnault shared his secret of success.
When considering the acquisition of a brand he always asks:
- “What can the brand be?”
- “How can it be improved?”
- “Also, does it fit with the other brands?”
- ” Is it a competitor?”
- ” (Most of the time it is a competitor) but does it fill a niche where we can see we are not very much present?”
“and when that happens I must say we can move.”
When managing a luxury group becomes a matter of putting all the pieces of the puzzle at the right place organically, Monsieur Arnault does it better.
And it works.