Delphine Arnault, the first child of Bernard Arnault, has been promoted to the position of Head of Christian Dior, the company said on Wednesday.
Bernard Arnault is the 73-year-old CEO and Chairman of the €382 billion French luxury fashion and goods giant LVMH, Europe’s most valuable company.
Delphine, the eldest of Arnault’s five children, has been tapped to run LVMH’s second-biggest brand, Christian Dior, amid a top management reshuffle, a move that sees Arnault tightening his family’s grip on the empire he co-founded 35 years ago.
The 47-year-old daughter joins her four brothers in heading up one of LVMH’s companies or divisions.
Her brothers; Alexandre Arnault, 30, is an executive vice president at Tiffany & Co.; Frédéric Arnault, 28, serves as the CEO of Tag Heuer; and the youngest of the five siblings, Jean Arnault, 24, is the director of watches development and marketing at Louis Vuitton.
Of the five, Delpine Arnault has been most involved in fashion, as head of the group’s fashion prize for upcoming designers.
She joined Christian Dior in 2001 and became an executive vice president at Louis Vuitton in 2013, in charge of supervising all of the brand’s product-related activities.
The businesswoman is also a member of the board of directors for Moët Hennessy, Pucci (since 2007), M6 (2009), Céline (since 2011), 21st Century Fox and Havas (both since 2013), amongst others.
In her new role at Dior, she’ll work closely with Charles Delapalme, who now becomes managing director at the brand.
As part of the reshuffle, Arnaud has also promoted now-former Dior CEO Pietro Beccari, who has been the head of Dior since 2018.
“Both [Delphine and Beccari] are well respected; logical promotions within the group,” said Credit Suisse analyst Natasha Brilliant.
Michael Burke, who is Bernard Arnault’s longest-serving lieutenant and has also been chairman of jewelry label Tiffany, will continue to work alongside the wealthy dad, the company said in a statement, without detailing his new role.
Shares in LVMH, Europe’s most valuable company at about 380 billion euros ($408 billion), rose as much as 2% to hit new highs.
Shares in luxury companies have been boosted recently by the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in China, a key market.
One of the fashion industry’s most influential executives, Burke oversaw soaring growth at Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury label, playing a key role for example in elevating street styles to the realm of luxury in recent years.
Beccari, meanwhile, who also previously led LVMH-owned label Fendi, increased sales at Christian Dior three-fold to 6.6 billion euros during his tenure, according to estimates from Citi. LVMH does not provide a breakdown of annual sales of its brands.
Beccari pushed the label into new products, including beach accessories such as surfboards and hammocks, bringing them closer to clients by setting up temporary retail outlets in resort locations including Mykonos, Greece, and Santa Barbara, California.
The executive steered a massive overhaul of the label’s historic Avenue Montaigne address in Paris, transforming it into a hulking flagship with restaurants and a museum, reviving foot traffic in the neighborhood.
“Succession planning in strategic roles has been instrumental to the success of LVMH’s key brands over the past 20 years, hence today’s moves are significant,” said Thomas Chauvet, analyst with Citi.
As an added bonus, Arnault recently overtook Elon Musk as the world’s richest person, with an estimated net worth of around €149 billion.
The tightening of the family’s hold on its empire also comes amid a wave of high-profile successions in other fashion companies in Europe, including at Prada and Zara owner Inditex.
Bernard Arnault, 73, has shown no signs he plans to step down soon and the company last year raised the maximum age of its CEO to 80 from 75.
Delphine and Antoine, 45, are children from their father’s first marriage.
Alexandre Arnault is in charge of products and communication at Tiffany, while Frederic Arnault, 28, is CEO of another group brand, TAG Heuer. The youngest child, Jean Arnault, 24, heads marketing and product development for Louis Vuitton’s watches division.
