From his childhood in northern France to his presence at Donald Trump’s second inauguration: Bernard Arnault, head of the world’s leading luxury group LVMH, is the subject of a critical biography. Published on Wednesday, it is the first in France in more than twenty years.
In ‘Bernard Arnault, son univers impitoyable’, published by La Tribu publishing house, fashion specialist Audrey Millet looks back on the childhood of the son from Roubaix, who came from a good family. His parents ran a construction company. Millet traces his rise to become one of the richest men in the world. His family fortune was estimated by Bloomberg at $162 billion in June 2026.
The author describes his time at the renowned French university Polytechnique. There, according to his grades, the young man excelled in probability theory, but less so in general education.
The book also devotes a few lines to his compulsory internship at the pioneer school in Angers. There, the military concluded that he was “unsuitable to hold a position of responsibility.”
“What the French army identified back then as leadership weaknesses will be renamed by management in the 1990s: agility, transformational leadership, entrepreneurship. The world will change its perspective,” analyzes Audrey Millet.
Then the takeovers followed. First came Boussac in 1984, a textile empire that included the jewel Christian Dior. This was followed by LVMH, which at the time consisted of Louis Vuitton and Moët-Hennessy. The takeover came after maneuvers that prompted the stock market regulator to investigate.
Dozens more houses were then bought up to build today’s empire of 75 companies. These include Givenchy, Kenzo, Guerlain, Sephora, Pommery as well as Les Échos and Paris Match. Some takeover attempts failed, such as Gucci, which was eventually taken over by François Pinault’s PPR group in 1999. An attempt at Hermès also failed, a case in which LVMH was punished by the financial market regulator.
The book also subtly shows the support the businessman received from the state, particularly in the Boussac takeover. “The French state will finance the operation completely legally,” writes the author.
At the beginning of June, Le Canard enchaîné reported on pressure from the billionaire’s confidants on La Tribu. The publishing house belongs to the Les Nouveaux Editeurs group, in which François-Henri Pinault, the president of the luxury group Kering, holds shares through his holding company Artémis.
“I can tell you that the pressure was very strong,” the book’s publisher, Julia Pavlowitch, told AFP, without giving further details. “This book is a free publication by an independent publisher and is in no way influenced by its shareholders (…). It is a traditional edition that is becoming increasingly rare,” the publisher continued.
When contacted by AFP, LVMH declined to comment.
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