In this success story post, we are going to share the Bernard Arnault biography, who has been serving as the CEO of the Louis Vuitton conglomerate since 1989. Being the principal shareholder in the fashion company, he became the wealthiest man in France and is among the richest men in the world.
We need not emphasize on how the French have been the face of the luxury fashion brands from since the 19th century. Among those Frenchmen who were responsible for the fashion revolution, Bernard Arnault stands out for the obvious reasons. The man who owns Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Givenchy and Dom Perignon, some of the most precious French luxury fashion houses, is someone whose story is definitely worth knowing.
It is probably a given that someone like that would be incredibly rich, because Bernard Arnault also happens to be the 13th richest man in the 19th century. Now he is the 2nd richest man in the world. Also for the record, he is the richest man of France and one of the richest men in the whole of Europe.
Arnault must have had business in his blood, what with his father Jean Arnault being a businessman who owned a civil engineering company. After getting done with his engineering in the year 1971, Bernard Arnault, as expected, joined his father’s business. Soon after, he brought about some remarkable changes to the establishment. He convinced his father to sell the company and from there on, they focused entirely on real estate, which was a wise move back then.
Bernard Arnault Career
Bernard became involved in his father’s business after graduating from college, and he planned for the company to expand its horizons and become involved in other more profitable businesses.
His first action within the company was to convince his father to disband the construction division and reap the benefits. After the construction was dissolved, the family began investing in real estate and became quite successful in doing so.
Bernard was quickly moving up the ranks in the company and was the director of development in 1974, CEO in 1977, and surpassed his father by becoming president in 1979.
In the year 1981, the French Socialists forced the family to relocate to America, and even there, they continued to flourish by branching out their real estate to the US.
Arnault returned to France in the year 1983 and saw a golden opportunity to expand into the textile industry when the firm Boussac Saint-Freres was bankrupt. He cooperated with Antonie Bernheim, a managing partner who worked for an investment firm called Lazard Freres to fund his purchase of Boussac.
Bernard Arnault Business Lessons
Bernard Arnault suggested These two things, first choosing your right mentor, the next thing is to learn your mistakes. It’s very interesting because Arnault not only says this Lessons Many Of the entrepreneurs say this same thing but one thing it’s variable compared to others. Bernard follows their mentor’s business Life story.
Let’s read briefly.
The person who I admire most in business is Warren Buffett. He is a long-term investor and has brilliant ideas and he sticks to them. The other person who I happened to have known is Steve Jobs. What I admired was his capacity to execute and bring so many innovations to the market. It allowed him to build a fascinating company. Warren and Steve have in common being very creative.
Almost no one thought when Steve arrived back at Apple that he could transform it into the most valuable company in the world. He did it not only with his ideas but in the way he managed the business. In the beginning, he was cutting costs and doing the things you should do to maintain a company in good health before launching new products. People only think he was a genius in technology and innovation. He was, but it was a combination of creativity and a keen sense of how to manage for growth.
In a way, that’s what I try to do. I deal with creativity all the time. What I have fun with is trying to transform creativity into business reality all over the world. To do this, you have to be connected to innovators and designers, but also make their ideas livable and concrete.
I’ve been working on the Louis Vuitton Foundation for the past decade. I worked with Frank Gehry on this fantastic building dedicated to the arts. We have a very good relationship. I told him you can do anything you want on the outside, but on the inside, I want something that is usable. When you enter the Foundation, you have created on the outside but rooms that are mostly square. It’s an example of some of the best architectural creativity in history, but also something that is functional. It works.
Learn from your mistakes.
I try not to make too many mistakes. But I can think of one thing that I didn’t do the way I should have. I sold a business too early because I was too impatient. It was a makeup business that we had owned for five years. I sold it 15 years ago, when it was not working well. I was fed up with it and impatient. I should have kept it. What I have taken from this is that when you have business that’s not performing well, it’s important to better understand the business and be patient.