A Wednesday evening not quite like the others, even for a place like the Elysée. At nightfall on March 13, the castle guards saw an impressive ballet of luxury cars parade by. The reason ? Emmanuel Macron presented the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor to the CEO of the French luxury giant LVMH, Bernard Arnault, in the presence of an audience of prestigious guests, confirming information from Politico.
Among them: Queen Rania of Jordan, Texan singer Beyoncé accompanied by her husband Jay-Z, visual artist Jeff Koons, billionaires Rodolphe Saadé and Vincent Bolloré, boss of the Vivendi group and friend of Nicolas Sarkozy. The former President of the Republic is also there.
Several ministers made the trip. The government’s numbers one and two: Bruno Le Maire and Gérald Darmanin, as well as Rachida Dati. The opportunity for the new Minister of Culture to reunite with her former comrade from the Municipal Council, Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris. Another guest on this non-exhaustive list: the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton.
The consecration of the richest man in the world
The highest dignity of the Republic was therefore given to the richest man in France and even… in the world, with assets estimated at 230 billion dollars ahead of Elon Musk and his 210 billion dollars, according to the ranking Forbes.
Bernard Arnault has established himself over the last thirty years as the world leader in luxury, in a range of sectors: luxury clothing, leather goods, perfumery, and spirits…
More recently, the businessman, owner of the Press Group Les Echos-Le Parisien since 2007, has entered into exclusive negotiations with the Lagardère group. The objective is no secret: the luxury mogul is eyeing Paris Match. The weekly with the now dedicated slogan “The weight of words, the shock of photos” switched to Vivendi last November, at the time of its entry into the capital of the Lagardère group.
And by chance, its new owner, Vincent Bolloré, submitted to a hearing at the National Assembly this same Wednesday, March 13. CNews, one of the channels of the Canal group which it owns, is currently the subject of a parliamentary commission of inquiry. Regularly accused of conveying conservative ideas via the media he manages, the boss of Vivendi would have assured MPs that he had no “ideological project”. And as if to reassure his interrogators, he even swore that he was nothing like an “Attila”.