Monday, February 20, 2023

The World’s Richest Person Is Trying To Head Off A Succession Battle

LVMHBernard Arnault is well versed in how succession can make a company vulnerable, having previously exploited the weaknesses of other family-owned businesses, such as rival Hermes International, to gain the upper hand in the industry. Families like the Murdochs, the Kochs, and Ambani’s can all attest to the difficulties sibling in-fighting can create.

In the past year, 73-year-old Arnault has laid the groundwork to prevent infighting within his own family empire. He created a holding company, which splits control between his five children, aiming to keep LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE will remain under family control for decades to come.

At this time, it is still to be determined if one of the five children will replace Arnault as Chief Executive of LVMH. Speculation about a succession battle made news in January after daughter Delphine was named head of the Christian Dior Couture brand and son Antoine became CEO of the leading holding company.

For more information see Angelina Rascouet and Tara Patel “The World’s Richest Person is Trying to Head Off a Succession Battle” Private Wealth, February 6, 2023.

Special thanks to Joel C. Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/trusts_estates_prof/2023/02/the-worlds-richest-person-is-trying-to-head-off-a-succession-battle.html

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