By Bahle Gama
The world’s richest man and Louis Vuitton (LVMH) CEO Bernard Arnault reportedly meets his five children once a month over lunch to decide who is capable of running his empire.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the lunch is organised inside a private dining room in the company’s global headquarters in Paris. The lunch, which takes an hour, is meant to discuss the business strategies related to Arnault’s luxury business empire with his children and seek their opinion.
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The meal reportedly begins with the 74-year-old billionaire reading the discussion topics prepared for him on his iPad, then goes around the table asking each of his adult children for advice. He further seeks an opinion on specific managers at the company in terms of whether it is time for a shake-up at one of the Louis Vuitton myriad brands.
These monthly sessions are reportedly part of the decades-long plan to prepare his children, who will take over LVMH when he is no longer there, according to the report. He reportedly stated that his successor would be chosen on merit but has given no indication of who it might be, and currently, all his children hold important positions with the luxury company.
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Delphine, the eldest of his children and only daughter was named the head of the second-largest brand in the empire Christian Dior. Her brother Antoine was given the position of managing the holding firm that oversees LVMH and the family’s fortune.
Frederic Arnault is the CEO of TAG Heuer and Alexandre is an executive at Tiffany, meanwhile, Jean, who is the youngest of the Arnault siblings, is in charge of marketing and product development for Louis Vuitton’s watch department.