Two sons of world’s richest man Bernard Arnault join him on board of LVMH

Two sons of the world’s richest man, Bernard Arnault, have joined the board of LVMH after a shareholder vote, further cementing the family’s control of the French luxury goods company.

The pair joined their elder siblings on the board of directors of the company, which houses brands such as Dior and Louis Vuitton, meaning four of Bernard Arnault’s five children now sit on the board.

Alexandre, 31, is the executive vice-president of Tiffany, while Frédéric, 29, is the CEO of Swiss luxury watchmaker Tag Heuer.

The Forbes magazine currently lists Bernard Arnault, and his family, as the world’s richest person, with a fortune of $214bn (£172bn), ahead of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, who heads Tesla and X.

Each son got a vote of more than 93% at the shareholder meeting, with the results coming as no surprise.

The Arnault family group holds 48.6% of LVMH’s capital and 64.3% of the votes, a fact Arnault acknowledged shortly ahead of the proceedings.

“I’ve got the majority of votes, so …” he said.

Two other children from a previous marriage, Delphine, 49, and Antoine, 46, are already board members, but the youngest sibling, Jean, 26, still has to wait his turn.

“He has time, he’s young,” said the 75-year-old founder.

LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) also nominated Wei Sun Christianson to succeed Antonio Belloni, the group’s number two, who announced his departure at the end of March.

Christianson, who joins from American investment bank Morgan Stanley, is “a great expert on business in China”, said Arnault, stressing the value of the country’s market.

“The group has a strong presence in China, so it’s important to have precise views on what’s happening,” he added.