François-Henri Pinault (; born 28 May 1962) is a French businessman, the son of billionaire François Pinault. François-Henri took the reins of his father's retail conglomerate Pinault-Printemps-Redoute in 2005, and turned it into the luxury group Kering (

Gucci Guccio Gucci S.p.A., doing business as Gucci ( , ), is an Italian Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Florence. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and ...

, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga,

Bottega Veneta Bottega Veneta S.r.l () is an Italian luxury fashion house based in Milan, Italy. Its product lines include ready-to-wear, handbags, shoes, accessories, jewellery and fragrances. Bottega Veneta is headquartered in Milan, Italy, with its main at ...

) in 2013. He has been president of the family-owned investment holding

Groupe Artémis Groupe Artémis is a French investment holding company, holding with a portfolio in fashion (Kering), wine ( including Château Latour), art (Christie's, Pinault Collection), sports (Stade Rennais FC) and entertainment (Creative Artists Agency). ...

( Château Latour,

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

, Pinault Collection, Creative Artists Agency) since 2003. He has been married to the film producer and actress

Salma Hayek Salma Valgarma Hayek Pinault ( , ; ; born September 2, 1966) is a Mexican and American actress and film producer. She began her career in Mexico with starring roles in the telenovela ''Teresa (1989 TV series), Teresa'' (1989–1991) as well a ...

since 2009.

Early life

François-Henri Pinault is the son of François Pinault, the founder of Pinault SA, which would later become the retail conglomerate Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR) and then Kering. He was born and raised in

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

. He graduated from HEC School of Management in 1985. During his studies, he co-founded the CRM company Soft Computing with other fellow students and interned at

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

in Paris as a database-software developer. After graduating, he completed military service at the French Consulate in Los Angeles, and was in charge of studying fashion and new technology sectors.

Career

In 1987, Pinault began his career at PPR (then called Pinault Distribution) where he was promoted manager of the buying department in 1988, head manager of France Bois Industries in 1989, and head manager of Pinault Distribution in 1990. In the 1990s, as Pinault Distribution became Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, an international player in the retail sector, Pinault became president of CFAO in 1993 and CEO of

Fnac Fnac () is a French multinational retail chain specializing in the sale of entertainment Media (communication), media and consumer electronics. Fnac was founded by André Essel and Max Théret in 1954. Its headquarters is located in ''Le Flavia' ...

in 1997. In May 2003, Pinault became vice-president of PPR, and president of

, PPR's parent company. In March 2005, Pinault was appointed President and CEO of Pinault-Printemps-Redoute. The group had purchased Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent in 1999 and was going through a major overhaul of its organization and portfolio. Under Pinault's leadership, the group divested its retail assets ( Conforama, CFAO, Printemps, Fnac, La Redoute), merged PPR with the Gucci group (

, Yves Saint-Laurent,

, Balenciaga, Boucheron,

Alexander McQueen Lee Alexander McQueen (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen (brand), Alexander McQueen label in 1992 and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His ac ...

) in 2011, and then further expanded its portfolio of luxury brands ( Brioni, Qeelin, Pomellato, Ulysse Nardin,

Creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) which summarizes its core tenets. Many Christian denominations use three creeds ...

, Valentino). After changing PPR's name to KeringThe new name is a reference to his Breton roots, "Ker" meaning "home" in the region's dialect, and sounds like "caring" in June 2013 to conclude the group's transformation, Pinault stopped acquiring luxury houses to focus on brand development and organic growth. Kering's major fashion houses went through a growth cycle that took each of their revenue beyond the billion dollar mark ($10 billion for Gucci alone). The group launched the eyewear manufacturing arm Kering Eyewear in 2013 which also passed the billion dollar mark in revenue after ten years in the running. Kering's revenue stalled around $20 billion in 2023, "a trying year" according to Pinault. In the early 2010s, he implemented the "environmental profit and loss" (EP&L) accounting method that was gradually applied to all the brands owned by the group. He launched the

Kering Foundation Kering S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, multinational holding company specializing in luxury goods, headquartered in Paris. It owns the brands Yves Saint Laurent (fashion house), Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta ...

in 2008 to support

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

, and the ''Women in Motion'' program with the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

in 2015 to raise awareness around women-related issues in the film industry. In 2009, he financed the documentary ''

Home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...

'' by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, which shows aerial shots of various places on Earth and discusses how humanity is threatening the ecological balance of the planet. In January 2018, Kering was named top sustainable textile, apparel and luxury goods corporation in the Corporate Knights Global 100 index. Pinault was mandated by the French President

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

to set up the ''Fashion Pact'' during the G7 summit in August 2019, an initiative signed by 56 fashion firms committing to reduce their environmental impact. Since 2003, Pinault has been the president of

which owns Kering (majority shareholder), wines ( Château Latour, Clos de Tart, Champagne Jacquesson), the auction house

, news magazine ''

Le Point ''Le Point'' () is a French weekly political and conservative news magazine published in Paris. It is one of the three major French news magazines. ''Le Point'' was founded in 1972 by former journalists of ''L'Express'' and quickly rose to be ...

'' and publishing house ''Tallandier'', cruise operator Compagnie du Ponant, fashion brands ( Courrèges,

Giambattista Valli Giambattista Valli is an Italian fashion designer. He is from Rome, Italy. His collections, both ready to wear and Haute couture, are presented semi-annually during Paris Fashion Week. Early life Born and raised in Rome, Giambattista Valli com ...

) and the football team Stade Rennais F.C. (Ligue 1). In 2019, Pinault celebrated the first

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

victory of the Stade Rennais F.C. since its acquisition by his family in 1998. Artémis also controls Pinault Collection which operates three contemporary art museums in Europe. Through Artémis, the Pinault family donated $113 million to repair

Notre-Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris ( ; meaning "Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a Medieval architecture, medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine), in the 4th arrondissemen ...

after the 2019 fire. In 2023, through Artémis, Pinault led the acquisition of a majority stake in the talent sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) for an estimated $7 billion, "a deal that shows the ever-growing convergence of fashion and fame" according to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''.

Main roles

* President and CEO of Kering * Manager of Financière Pinault * President of

* Co-founder and member of the board of Soft Computing * Owner of Stade Rennais, a French

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

football club * Member of the management board of Château Latour * Member of the board of

Awards and honours

* 2006:

Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

* 2016: Vanity Fair Hall of Fame * 2018: #8 Businessperson of the Year by '' Fortune'' * 2019: Among the "30 best CEO of the world" according to ''

Barron's ''Barron's'' (stylized in all caps) is an American weekly magazine and newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corp, since 1921. Founded as ''Barron's National Financial Weekly'' in 1921 by Clarence W. Barron (1855–19 ...

'' * 2019 : 3rd of the "100 best CEOs worldwide" according to ''

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a not-for-profit, independent corporation that is an affiliate of Harvard Business School. ''HBR'' is published six times a year ...

'' * 2020: Fiorino d'Oro, the highest award of the city of

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Wealth

In 2023, the French magazine '' Challenges'' estimated the wealth of the Pinault family at 31.2 billion euros. In 2024, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'''s estimation was at 25.7 billion dollars.

Private life

Pinault was married to Dorothée Lepère from 1996 to 2004. They had a son and a daughter together. He dated supermodel Linda Evangelista from September 2005 to January 2006. They had a son together (born October, 2006).Amanda Mitchell
François-Henri Pinault, Salma Hayek's Husband, Is Behind Some of Fashion's Biggest Names
''The Oprah Magazine'', 17 July 2019. In April 2006, he started dating actress

. Their daughter was born on 21 September 2007. The couple married on 14 February 2009 in Paris. In April 2009, they renewed their wedding vows in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Notes

References

External links

Official biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinault, Francois-Henri French businesspeople in fashion French chairpersons of corporations French chief executives 1962 births Living people French billionaires French art collectors 21st-century French philanthropists French investors Knights of the Legion of Honour Christie's people HEC Paris alumni Kering people Businesspeople from Rennes 20th-century French businesspeople 21st-century French businesspeople François-Henri