Few people know it, but the greatest fortune in France is a businessman who produces luxury wine and alcohol.
The rankings of great wealth at the global and even national level are highly anticipated publications. Although suspense and surprises are rare, it is always interesting to learn about the few variations at the top of the rankings. But also the origin of the fortune of these billionaires, who come from the business world as well as the artistic world, in particular cinema and music or even the media.
For several years, Forbes, the leading American economic magazine, presents the richest men and women in the world in a list. However, one of the very first is of French nationality, he is the boss of the largest luxury group in the world. Bernard Arnault, the general director of the LVMH group, is in fact the first French fortune for several years and still today. The latter is not only the richest man in France, he is also among the world’s elite, in the same spheres of wealth as the boss of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk. The Frenchman even once dethroned the American billionaire at the top of the ranking. Aged 74, the Frenchman has a fortune estimated at nearly $200 billion according to Forbes.
The fortune of the Arnault family was formed thanks to the construction sector in which the father of the current billionaire invested heavily. But it is luxury that characterizes his empire today. The creation of the group dates back to 1987, when the houses of the four letters of the group merged: the fashion and luggage brand Louis Vuitton, the champagne house Moët et Chandon and the cognac brand Hennessy. Over the years, the group has expanded and is now made up of other fashion houses as well as jewelry, luxury leather goods and cosmetics brands.
The wine and spirits category is very developed by LVMH, which has no less than 25 “houses” as it likes to call them, diverse and varied. On the champagne side, the group is notably the owner of the houses Ruinart, Veuve Clicquot, the iconic Dom Pérignon and Moët et Chandon, Krug and Mercier. The group has also invested in particularly luxurious wine estates. Among them are grands crus from different French regions such as Clos des Lambrays from Burgundy, Château Cheval-Blanc and Château d’Yquem in the Bordeaux region.
LVMH also owns a few spirits brands such as its famous cognac house, but also the Scottish whiskey house Glenmorangie and the Cuban rum brand Eminente. In total, the wine and spirits market brings in 6 billion euros for the luxury group. The largest market share goes to the fashion sector with 31 billion euros.