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Bernard Arnault
French businessman
Bernard Arnault is a French businessman and chairman of the LVMH conglomerate. According to the 2018 Forbes ranking, his wealth is valued at $72 billion. Bernard Arnault comes from a very wealthy entrepreneurial family from Roubaix, near the Belgian border. In 2007, Arnault was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine. 1)
LVMH Moët Hennessy — Louis Vuitton
Bernard Arnault is the owner and CEO of the multi-billion dollar wine-to-watch conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy, Louis Vuitton SE. 2)
Education
Arnault has a degree in engineering from Paris' École Polytechnique. 3)
Beginning
He took over the Ferret-Savinel building business of his father in 1971. He changed the name of the firm to Férinel Inc. eight years later and switched the focus to real estate. 4)
Acquiring Dior
With $15 million of his own capital, Arnault raised the $80 million needed to buy Boussac Saint-Frères, a bankrupt textile firm that owned the Christian Dior fashion house, together with Antoine Bernheim, managing partner of the French bank Lazard Frères and Co. 5)