According to a recent Euronext study, three French families hold a significant portion of the CAC 40: they alone represent 315 billion euros.
In France, there are great fortunes. One of the best known is the Arnault family. Bernard Arnault is, in fact, considered the richest man in France and according to Forbes, he even climbs to second place in the world’s fortunes behind Elon Musk, owner of X, Tesla and Space X. Some estimates even make him the richest man in the world, ahead of the American. In any case, he would have surpassed Amazon boss Jeff Bezos. The Arnault family is also the largest shareholder of the CAC 40, the main stock market index of the Paris Stock Exchange, according to a recent Euronext study, revealed by BFMTV. It alone holds 7.8% of the stock index.
The Arnault family is, however, far from being the only one to own large shares of the CAC 40 shareholding. Blackrock, an American multinational company specializing in asset management, holds 2.3%, as does Vanguard, another American investment fund company. However, they are surpassed by a handful of major French families. For example, the Hermès family owns 4.8% of the stock market index and the Bettencourt-Meyers 2.9%. These French families who dominate the world of luxury, with that of Bernard Arnault, thus alone own 15.5% of the CAC 40 index. Knowing that the study is based on 2,100 billion euros of market capitalization, the trio has 315 billion euros in its hands thanks to the CAC 40.
Such control is linked, according to Mathieu Caron, responsible for primary markets at the stock exchange operator Euronext, to the performance of the luxury sector, which continues to evolve. Each family has seen the value of its flagship brand explode in just four years (2018-2022): +198% for Hermès, +163% for Bernard Arnault’s LVMH and +66% for L’Oréal, owned by the Bettencourt-Meyers.
“Family shareholding is a fundamental and multi-year trend which confirms its significant weight,” analyzed Mathieu Caron. The percentage of these three French families is very high, especially when compared with the CAC 40 index rate held by all large family groups which rises to only 21%. The trio therefore owns three quarters of it. Next to these three big families, the French state’s share seems minimal with “only” 2.2% of the stock market index. He still took sixth place.