Iger’s Buyers & the Arnault Dynasty

Each year, new products account for approximately 15 % of LVMH sales, and some of them enjoy operating margins of up to 47 % . (For a list of the company’s brands, see the exhibit “The House of Arnault.”) What makes these statistics all the more remarkable is that many of these products at first appear utterly outlandish—a kidney-shaped handbag cov... See more

The acquisition of Tiffany & Co in 2021 was the largest contributor to LVMH’s growth over the historic period. This move allowed the company to rank third in jewellery and eighth in traditional and connected watches globally. The luxury jewellery brand brought USD6 billion of additional sales for LVMH in 2021 and turned Tiffany & Co into th... See more

Our philosophy is quite simple, really. If you look over a creative person’s shoulder, he will stop doing great work. Wouldn’t you, if some manager were watching your every move, clutching a calculator in his hand? So that is why LVMH is, as a company, so decentralized. Each brand very much runs itself, headed by its own artistic director. Central

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The strategy of flipping an established brand into a digital-content machine has been carried off a few times already. In 2016, Rimowa, the stalwart German luggage manufacturer known for its striated metal carry-ons, sold a majority stake to L.V.M.H., the conglomerate of high-fashion luxury brands. Rimowa had a cachet among a small group of interna... See more

Arnault has never acquired a business with back-office synergies on his mind