LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (), commonly known as LVMH, is a French holding multinational corporation and

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** Co ...

specializing in

luxury goods In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a greater proportion of overall spending. Luxury goods are in contrast to n ...

, headquartered in Paris. The company was formed in 1987 through the merger of fashion house Louis Vuitton (founded in 1854) with Moët Hennessy, which was established following the 1971

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

between the champagne producer Moët & Chandon (founded in 1743) and the cognac producer Hennessy (founded in 1765). In 2021, with a valuation of $329 billion, LVMH became the most valuable company in Europe. LVMH controls around 60

subsidiaries A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a sa ...

that each manage a small number of prestigious brands, 75 in total. These include Tiffany & Co.,

Christian Dior Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Christian Dior SE, which is now owned by parent company LVMH. His fashion houses a ...

, Fendi, Givenchy,

Marc Jacobs Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963) is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for his own fashion label, Marc Jacobs, and formerly Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, which was produced for approximately 15 years, before it was d ...

, Stella McCartney, Loewe, Loro Piana, Kenzo, Celine,

Sephora Sephora is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products. Featuring nearly 340 brands, along with its own private label, Sephora Collection, Sephora offers beauty products including cosmetics, skincare, body, fragrance, n ...

, Princess Yachts, TAG Heuer, and

Bulgari Bulgari (, ; stylized as BVLGARI) is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1884 and known for its jewellery, watches, fragrances, accessories, and leather goods. While the majority of design, production and marketing is overseen and exec ...

. The subsidiaries are often managed independently, under the umbrellas of six branches: Fashion Group, Wines and Spirits, Perfumes and Cosmetics, Watches and Jewelry, Selective Distribution, and Other Activities. The oldest of the LVMH brands is wine producer Château d'Yquem, which dates its origins back to 1593. Bernard Arnault is the current CEO of LVMH.

History

In the 1980s, French investor Bernard Arnault had the idea to create a group of luxury brands. He worked with Alain Chevalier, CEO of Moët Hennessy, and

Henry Racamier Henri Serge Racamier (January 25, 1912 - March 29, 2003) was a French industrialist and businessman. He was primarily known for co-founding the luxury conglomerate LVMH and turning Louis Vuitton into an internationally recognized brand with billi ...

, president of Louis Vuitton, to form LVMH. Their successful integration of various famous

aspirational brand An aspirational brand is a term in consumer marketing for a brand or product which a large segment of its exposure audience wishes to own, but for economic reasons cannot. Because the desire for aspirational goods is relative to the consumer's purc ...

s into a single group inspired other luxury companies to do the same. Thus, the French conglomerate Kering and the Swiss-based Richemont have also created extended portfolios of luxury brands. LVMH is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50

stock market index In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures a stock market, or a subset of the stock market, that helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market performance. Two of the ...

. Make Up For Ever was established in 1984, and was acquired by LVMH in 1999. On 7 March 2011, LVMH announced the acquisition of the 50.4% family-owned shares of the Italian jeweller

and the intention to make a tender offer for the rest, which was publicly owned. The transaction was about $5.2 billion. By 2012, LVMH established LCapitalAsia, a continuation of its private-equity arm, focused in Asia. In 2012, the growth of LVMH's sales "decreased by about 10 percent from the growth rate in 2011", and in early 2013 LVMH expressed that it would "stop opening stores in second and third-tier cities in mainland China". Xue Shengwen, a senior researcher at ChinaVenture, said the developing trend of young people is to take advantage of more acceptable prices. On 7 March 2013, ''National Business Daily'' reported that mid-priced clothing brand QDA would open its first store in Beijing, as a co-investment of LVMH's private equity LCapitalAsia and the Chinese apparel company Xin Hee Co., Ltd. In February 2014, LVMH entered into a joint venture with the Italian fashion brand Marco De Vincenzo, taking a minority 45% stake in the firm. In April 2017, LVMH announced it would gain ownership of

haute couture, leather, men's and women's ready-to-wear, and footwear lines, to integrate the entire Christian Dior brand within its luxury group. In January 2018, LVMH announced record sales of 42.6 billion euros in 2017, up 13% over the previous year, as all divisions turned in strong performances. In the same year, the net profit increased 29%. On 1 November 2018, co-founder Alain Chevalier died at age 87. On 12 May 2019 the fashion house Fenty, styled as FEИTY, created by singer

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...

was launched by LVMH in Paris. It is the first new fashion house by LVMH in 32 years and she is the first woman of colour to head a brand under LVMH. On 15 July 2019, LVMH announced a new partnership to further develop the Stella McCartney House. On 29 November 2019, LVMH announced its 55% stake in Château d’Esclans, the producer best-known for the brand Whispering Angel. The acquisition was part of LVMH's move to offer a beloved high-end rosé portfolio, in addition to reaching customers worldwide. In November 2019, LVMH expressed plans to acquire Tiffany & Co. for approximately US $16.2 billion. The deal was expected to close by June 2020. LVMH issued a statement in September 2020 indicating that the takeover would not proceed, and that the deal was "invalid" because of Tiffany's handling of the business during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, Tiffany filed suit against LVMH, asking the court to compel the purchase or to assess damages against the defendant; LVMH planned to counter sue, alleging that mismanagement had invalidated the purchase agreement. In mid-September 2020, a reliable source told '' Forbes'' that the reason for Arnault's decision to cancel the Tiffany purchase was purely financial: because Tiffany was paying millions in dividends to shareholders despite a financial loss of US$32 million during the pandemic. Some US$70 million had already been paid out by Tiffany, with an additional US$70 million scheduled to be paid in November 2020. LVMH filed a counterclaim against the court action commenced by Tiffany; a statement issued by LMVH blamed Tiffany's mismanagement during the pandemic and claimed that it was 'burning cash and reporting losses'". In late October 2020 Tiffany and LVMH agreed to the original takeover plan, though at a slightly reduced price of nearly $16 billion, a minor reduction of 2.6% from the aforementioned deal. The new deal reduced the amount paid per share by LVMH from the original price of $135 to $131.50. LVMH completed the purchase of Tiffany in January 2021. In January 2022, LVMH acquired a minority stake in the New York-based label

Aimé Leon Dore Aimé Leon Dore (pronounced ''ah-mey lee-on door'') is a fashion and lifestyle brand founded in March 2014 by Teddy Santis. Based in Queens, New York, the brand's flagship store is located on Mulberry Street in Nolita, Manhattan. History In ...

for an undisclosed sum. The investment was made through the conglomerate's LVMH Luxury Ventures arm. As of late 2020, LVMH has the largest market capitalization of any company in France, and also in the Eurozone with a record of 261 billion euros ($317.6 billion). As of December 2020, Arnault's own fortune was nearly half that, with a personal net worth of $151.7 billion. In March 2022, LVMH announced closure of its 120+ stores in Russia, "given the current circumstances in the region", due to the Russo-Ukrainian War. An LVMH spokesperson stated the company would continue to pay salary and benefits to its 3,500 employees in Russia. In November 2022, it was announced LVMH had acquired the Piedmont-based jewelry maker, Pedemonte Group.

Corporate structure

LVMH is headquartered in the

8th arrondissement of Paris The 8th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, the arrondissement is colloquially referred to as ''le huitième'' ("the eighth"). The arrondissement, ...

, France. The company is listed on the

Euronext Paris Euronext Paris is France's securities market, formerly known as the Paris Bourse, which merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Brussels exchanges in September 2000 to form Euronext NV. As of 2022, the 795 companies listed had a combined marke ...

exchange, and is a constituent of the

CAC 40 The CAC 40 (french: CAC quarante ) (''Cotation Assistée en Continu'') is a benchmark French stock market index. The index represents a capitalization-weighted measure of the 40 most significant stocks among the 100 largest market caps on the E ...

index. As of 2010, the group had revenues of €20.3 billion with a

net income In business and accounting, net income (also total comprehensive income, net earnings, net profit, bottom line, sales profit, or credit sales) is an entity's income minus cost of goods sold, expenses, depreciation and amortization, interest, a ...

of just over €3 billion. In 2013, with revenue of $21.7 billion, LVMH was ranked first

company in Deloitte's "Global Powers of Luxury Goods" report. By 29 February 2016, the company had a share value of 78,126 million euros, distributed in 506,980,299 shares. As of 2009, the group employed more than 83,000 people, 30 percent of LVMH's staff worked in France, and LVMH operated over 2,400 stores worldwide.LVMH First half 2009 interim report
''LVMH'' Retrieved 29 January 2010

Shareholders

At the end of 2017, the only declared major shareholder in LVMH was Arnault Family Group, the holding company of Bernard Arnault. The group's control amounted to 46.84% of LVMH's stock and 63.13% of its voting rights.. As of 2009, LVMH held 66% of the drinks division, Moët Hennessy, with the remaining 34% held by

Diageo Diageo plc () is a Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweich ...

. As of 2013, Christian Dior SE was the main holding company of LVMH, owning 40.9% of its shares, and 59.01% of its voting rights. Bernard Arnault is Chairman and CEO of LVMH and Chairman of Christian Dior SE. In 2017, Arnault purchased all the remaining Christian Dior shares in a reported $13.1 billion buyout.

Senior leadership

* ''Chairman:'' Bernard Arnault (since January 1989) * ''Chief Executive:'' Bernard Arnault (since January 1989)

List of former chairmen

# Alain Chevalier (1987–1989)

Subsidiaries

A partial list including some of LVMH's best-known brands and subsidiaries: ; Wines and spirits * Ao Yun * Ardbeg * Belvedere * Bodega Numanthia * Cape Mentelle *

Chandon Chandon () is a commune in the Loire department in central France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territori ...

* Château d'Esclans *

Château Cheval Blanc Château Cheval Blanc (French for "White Horse Castle"), is a wine producer in Saint-Émilion in the Bordeaux wine region of France. Its wine received the highest rank of Premier Grand Cru Classé (A) status in the Classification of Saint-Émi ...

* Château d'Yquem * Cheval des Andes *

Clos des Lambrays Clos des Lambrays is an ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) and Grand Cru vineyard for red wine in the Côte de Nuits subregion of Burgundy, with Pinot noir as the main grape variety. K. MacNeil ''The Wine Bible'' pg 191-195 Workman Publ ...

* Cloudy Bay * Colgin Cellars * Dom Pérignon *

Glenmorangie Glenmorangie distillery (pronounced with the stress on the second syllable: ; the toponym is believed to derive from either Gaelic ''Gleann Mòr na Sìth'' "vale of tranquillity" or ''Gleann Mór-innse'' "vale of big meadows") is a distillery ...

* Hennessy * Krug * Mercier * Moët & Chandon * Newton Vineyard * Ruinart *

Terrazas de los Andes Terrazas de los Andes (Spanish for "Terraces of the Andes") is a winery located in Luján de Cuyo in the province of Mendoza, Argentina. Terrazas de los Andes was founded in 1996 as a Moët-Hennessy subsidiary in Argentina, refurbishing an ol ...

* Veuve Clicquot * Volcan de mi Tierra * Woodinville ; Fashion and leather goods * Berluti * Birkenstock * Celine *

* Emilio Pucci * Fendi * Givenchy * JW Anderson * Kenzo * Loewe * Loro Piana * Louis Vuitton *

* Moynat * Off-White * Patou * Phoebe Philo * Rimowa * Stella McCartney ; Perfumes and cosmetics * Acqua di Parma * Benefit Cosmetics *

BITE Beauty BITE Beauty is a Canada, Canadian cosmetics company specializing in lip products. The brand was founded by Susanne Langmuir in 2011, launched in 2012, and acquired by LVMH, Kendo in 2014. The brand is carried exclusively at Sephora. All BITE's p ...

* Cha Ling * Fenty Beauty by

* Fresh Beauty * Parfums Givenchy * Guerlain * Kenzo Parfums * KVD Vegan Beauty * Maison Francis Kurkdjian *

Make Up For Ever Make Up For Ever is a French cosmetics brand owned by LVMH. It was created in 1984 by make-up artist Dany Sanz. History Make Up For Ever was founded in 1984 by make-up artist Dany Sanz. It provides cosmetics to professional make-up artists in ...

* Marc Jacobs Beauty * Officine Universelle Buly * Ole Henriksen * Parfums Christian Dior * Perfumes Loewe *

; Watches and jewelry *

* Chaumet * Fred * Hublot * Repossi * TAG Heuer * Tiffany & Co. * Zenith ; Selective retailing *

DFS DFS may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, advertising agency, now Saatchi & Saatchi * DFS Furniture, a furniture retailer in the United Kingdom and Ireland * DFS Group (Duty Free Shoppers), Hong Kong * DFS Program Excha ...

* La Grande Epicerie * La Samaritaine * Le Bon Marché * Starboard Cruise Services ; Other activities *

Belmond Belmond may refer to: Places *Belmond, Iowa Organisations *Belmond Limited Hotels *Belmond El Encanto * Belmond Grand Hotel Timeo *Belmond Hotel Cipriani * Belmond Hotel Monasterio * Belmond Hotel Rio Sagrado * Belmond La Résidence d'Angkor * Be ...

* Maisons Cheval Blanc * '' Connaissance des Arts'' * Cova * '' Investir'' * Jardin d'Acclimatation * ''

Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; French for "The Parisian") is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, better known as LVMH. Histor ...

'' * ''Les Echos'' * Radio Classique *

Royal Van Lent Feadship (First Export Association of Dutch Shipbuilders) is a cooperative venture between two shipyards Royal Van Lent Shipyard and Koninklijke De Vries Scheepsbouw. Feadship designs and constructs high-end luxury yachts and is one of the leading ...

Journées Particulières

Launched in 2011, Journées Particulières is a bi-annual event which allows visitors to enter the various ateliers, studios, caves, and mansions owned by LVMH, for free. It is staged every two years and has opened doors in France, Italy, Switzerland, the UK, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany, with 56 brands welcoming guests into over 70 sites on four continents. The 2017 issue attracted 145,000 visitors.

Philanthropy

Visual arts

LVMH is a major patron of art in France. The group supported about ten exhibitions as "Le grand monde d’Andy Warhol" and "Picasso et les maîtres" at le

Grand Palais The Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées ( en, Great Palace of the Elysian Fields), commonly known as the Grand Palais (English: Great Palace), is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arro ...

in Paris. LVMH also endorsed the patronage of "l'atelier d'Alberto Giacometti" and "Yves Klein" at

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

. Since 2005, when the LVMH flagship store opened in Paris at 3, avenue George V, 75008, the company presented close collaborations with contemporary artists. Features included a light sculpture by American James Turrell, a 20-metre (65 feet) long "travelling staircase" showcasing the work of American video artist

Tim White-Sobieski Tim White-Sobieski is a video and installation artist based in New York and Berlin. He was educated as an architect and dedicated himself to visual art and filmmaking, exploring the fields of painting, sculpture, photography, video, video installa ...

and an elevator linking the store to the top floor by Iceland's Olafur Eliasson. In 2006, a gallery space was inaugurated on the second floor of the same building and named "Espace Culturel". "Icônes" was one of the first exhibitions. Shigeru Ban, Sylvie Fleury, Zaha Hadid, Bruno Peinado, Andrée Putman, Ugo Rondinone, James Turrell,

and Robert Wilson were the nine artists invited by Louis Vuitton to participate in it. In addition, LVMH foundation created the "young creators LVMH award", an international competition opened to French and international beaux-arts students. Each year, six grants are allocated to the winners. In 2014, LVMH opened the Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Creation in a new building designed by Frank Gerry in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. The Fondation is designed as the Group's own museum to present its collections and organize major world-class art exhibitions.

Fashion

In November 2013, LVMH created the ''LVMH Young Fashion Designer Prize'', which comes with a €300,000 grant with a year of mentoring; it was the brainchild of Delphine Arnault. In February 2014 20 finalists for the inaugural prize were shown in London, including Simone Rocha, Thomas Tait, Meadham Kirchhoff,

Marques'Almeida Marques'Almeida is a fashion label which debuted in London in 2011. The label was founded by Portuguese designers Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida, who both studied at Central Saint Martins in London. The brand is known for the creative use of ...

, J JS Lee, and others, and Thomas Tait was the winner. Marques'Almeida won the 2015 prize. In 2019, South African designer Thebe Magugu became the first African to win the prize, and was commended by the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa. LVMH underwrites other fashion competitions, including the Andam prize in France, the International Festival of Fashion and Photography in Hyères, France, an investment fund for young designers created by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, and a scholarship program and sponsored lecture theater at Central Saint Martins in London.

Music

The group also lends

Stradivarius violins A Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are co ...

to young talented musicians. Maxim Vengerov and Laurent Korcia have used the instruments.

Humanitarian aid

On 26 August 2019, Bernard Arnault declared that LVMH would donate $11 million to help fight the

2019 Brazil wildfires The 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires season saw a year-to-year surge in fires occurring in the Amazon rainforest and Amazon biome within Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru during that year's Amazonian tropical dry season. Fires normally occ ...

. During the COVID-19 crisis, the group shifted its production of perfume and spirits towards hand sanitizer. This production of 12 tons has been offered to hospitals in Paris, France. In 2022, Louis Vuitton announced a €1 million donation to UNICEF to help the Ukrainian victims of the Russian invasion. On 2 March 2022, LVMH Group pledged €5 million to the Red Cross to those affected by the war. In addition, the company closed 124 of its stores in Russia.

E-commerce

On 24 May 2018, LVMH launched an e-commerce initiative by investing in online fashion search business Lyst, as a way for LVMH's luxury brands to expand their presence online and capture younger shoppers. LVMH contributed to Lyst's $60 million funding round, which also included access to LVMH's international expertise, designed to drive Lyst's global expansion.

Financial data

Controversy

John Galliano's anti-semitism

On 25 February 2011, Christian Dior announced they had suspended designer John Galliano following his arrest over an alleged anti-semitic tirade in a Paris bar. In France, it is against the law to make anti-semitic remarks of this nature, and it can be punished by up to six months in prison. On 1 March 2011, Christian Dior officially announced that it had fired Galliano amidst the controversy.

Sebastian Suhl

In 2012 former Prada COO Sebastian Suhl was hired by Givenchy as the company's new CEO. The Asian Transnational Corporation Monitoring Network (ATNC), a network made of 15 organizations from 12 Asian countries wrote a letter of concern to LVMH Group's Bernard Arnault as Suhl was at the same time a key person in the Prada Female Discrimination Case where he described as complicit in sexual harassment and discrimination practices.

Corruption

During December 2021, LVMH paid €10 million to settle claims in Paris to end several criminal investigations that a former French intelligence chief, Bernard Squarcini, spied for the company, on competitors and others, including on an activist making a film about its billionaire owner, Bernard Arnault. Prosecutors allege that the intelligence chief used tactics like influence peddling, invasion of privacy, and leveraging his network in intelligence and police on behalf of the company.

References

External links

*
Marques de LVMH classées par secteurs d'activités
{{Authority control 8th arrondissement of Paris CAC 40 Companies in the Euro Stoxx 50 Companies listed on Euronext Paris Conglomerate companies of France French companies established in 1987 Hennessy family History of cosmetics Holding companies established in 1987 Hospitality companies of France Luxury brand holding companies Manufacturing companies based in Paris Multinational companies headquartered in France Retail companies established in 1987 Watchmaking conglomerates Clothing companies based in New York City