The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
LVMH billionaire Arnault annoints son as head of watches
THE billionaire owner of luxury goods giant LVMH has appointed his 29-year-old son to lead the group’s watches division.
Frédéric Arnault, the second-youngest of Bernard Arnault’s five children, will take on an expanded role in the newly created position of chief executive of LVMH Watches.
He will oversee the Swiss watch brands TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith, which are said to have a combined turnover of about 1.6bn Swiss francs (£1.5bn).
Frédéric Arnault will hand over his previous role as head of TAG Heuer to
Julien Tornare, who has served as chief executive of Zenith since 2017.
The move highlights LVMH’s renewed focus on watches amid tough competition in the luxury market.
The French conglomerate, which also owns brands including Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, first entered the watch market with the purchase of TAG Heuer and Zenith in 1999, when Frédéric Arnault was just five-years-old.
During his tenure at TAG, he has pushed the brand further upmarket, culminating in the release of the €500,000 (£430,000) Carrera Plasma Diamant d’Avant Garde. The brand sells only a few dozen of the diamond-studded watches annually, with buyers waiting up to a year to get their hands on one.
Other ventures spearheaded by Mr Arnault include partnerships with Porsche and the Oracle Red Bull Formula
‘I’m here because I love what I do. Succession is not a topic we think about today’
One team, as well as producing The Chase for Carrera, a short film starring Ryan Gosling.
His promotion will likely fuel speculation about succession planning in the LVMH empire. Bernard Arnault, who is 74 and one of the world’s wealthiest people, recently extended his compulsory retirement age to 80.
Frédéric said: “I’m here because I love what I do. I love the brands. I love the project and the journey. Succession is not a topic we think about today.
His siblings also hold key positions in the group. His younger brother, Jean, is head of watches at Louis Vuitton and his older brother, Alexandre, leads Tiffany. Antoine, Bernard’s eldest son, leads the family’s holding company, while his only daughter, Delphine, is the chief executive of Dior.