Europe’s richest man Bernard Arnault has disputed claims that he does not hire ‘fat people’ at his £105billion LVMH empire.
The 77-year-old responded to allegations made in an investigation by French newspaper Le Monde that most of Mr Arnault’s employees are thin.
Journalists from the outlet visited the Parisian headquarters of the luxury goods conglomerate, subsequently writing in their six-part series: ‘The women stand up straight, and are mostly young, pretty and slim. You would not come across a single overweight or sloppily dressed employee.’
As part of a three-page response posted to LVMH’s X account, Mr Arnault said: ‘I offer my apologies to readers for this failure of bodily diversity, and I shall raise the matter with the company canteen on Monday.’
The expose looked closely at the supposed rising tensions in Mr Arnault’s family over potential heirs set to succeed the luxury empire – dubbed ‘the poison at the heart of LVMH’ – which owns Dior, Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon, Tiffany & Co, Dom Pérignon, Bulgari and many more.
The series published over six days by Le Monde – largely owned by Mr Arnault’s son-in-law – also investigated Mr Arnault’s political influence, his sway over the media and tax scandals.
LVMH is estimated to be worth about £105billion ($142.4billion), sitting at number nine on the Forbes rich list, and makes Mr Arnault the richest man in France – and Europe.
All five of Mr Arnault’s children work in leadership positions at LVMH, while his son-in-law Xavier Niel (who is not married to Mr Arnault’s daughter Delphine but they have been together since 2010) owns telecoms giant Iliad, with an estimated value at around £11billion ($15.8billion), and is the seventh richest person in France.
Europe’s richest man Bernard Arnault has disputed claims that he does not hire ‘fat people’ at his £105billion LVMH empire
Bernard Arnault and wife Helene Mercier-Arnault, centre, with his children (from left to right), Alexandre, Frédéric, Jean, Delphine and Antoine Arnault
The five children – Delphine, 51, Antoine, 49, Alexandre, 34, Frédéric, 31, and Jean, 28 – were made out by the investigation to have each individually been prepped to take over the position of leading the company, in turn setting the siblings up to fight for succession.
The children are said to have forged alliances amongst themselves in a rivalry that Mr Arnault allegedly fostered, resulting in LVMH shareholders becoming nervous about the unclear takeover route.
It was previously reported that the family are believed to have lunch together once a month, something that Arnault allegedly uses as an opportunity to ask each child for advice on his business.
It is then claimed that their answers over the meal will help decide who will replace him as the head of LVMH.
In the humorous response on X where Mr Arnault quips that he will instruct the catering staff to better feed his staff, he begins by thanking the journalists, Raphaëlle Bacqué and Vanessa Schneider, for calling his family the ‘last royal family of France’.
He extends his gratitude to the newspaper for devoting the considerable resources spent on looking into him, his work and his family.
His family, instead of battling a Succession-like mania, was ‘united,’ he insisted, and instead said that Le Monde made his family appear like an ‘Italian opera’.
However, he disputed the accusations of political influence, family dynamics, and the way he runs his business in an unfair take down – arguing that many of his practices are typical in major French companies.
The investigations also claimed that Hermès ties were banned from Mr Arnault’s suite at the head office, following a bitter ‘handbag war’ whereby LVMH had unsuccessfully tried to buy the rival luxury goods company in 2010.
‘An aide would hand you a different one before you even reached the elevator’ if you wore a Hermès tie, the journalists claimed.
Mr Arnault responded that the ties are not confiscated and that visitors could ‘keep them’.
‘We simply offer a second one, more discreet, for the elevator. A question of manners,’ he wrote, before adding ‘under the seal of secrecy’ that he owned several.
He concluded his letter with another quip: ‘As for me, rest assured: I will continue doing Le Monde’s crossword puzzles, which are excellent.’
He then quoted the tweet that shared his initial response with his first ever post on social media, where he wrote: ‘I was deeply touched by the many messages you sent me following my open letter to Le Monde. I wanted to thank each and every one of you, directly and personally, here on X. Thank you! Bernard Arnault.’
Le Monde has not responded but their investigation remains unchanged on their website.
