Bernard Arnault, the world’s richest person, has appointed his daughter Delphine to run Christian Dior, the second-biggest brand in his LVMH luxury goods empire, according to a media report.
Arnault, 73, is the chief executive, chair and majority shareholder of the group, which owns a swathe of high-end businesses including Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, Givenchy, Kering and Moet Hennessy, The Guardian reported.
He announced on Wednesday that his eldest daughter would become Dior’s chief executive and chair as part of a shake-up of the 382 bn euro (337 bn pound) conglomerate, the report said.
Delphine Arnault, who is the executive vice-president of Louis Vuitton and is in-charge of its product product-related activities, will take up the new position from February 1.
The 47-year-old joined the family business in 2000 after two years at the management consultancy firm McKinsey and studying at the London School of Economics. She joined the LVMH board in 2003 – becoming the first woman and youngest person to serve on it, The Guardian reported.
Her father said: “Under Delphine’s leadership, the desirability of Louis Vuitton products advanced significantly, enabling the brand to regularly set new sales records. Her keen insights and incomparable experience will be decisive assets in driving the ongoing development of Christian Dior.”
The appointment marks a return to the brand Arnault first worked for in 2001, where she started working on shoes before rising to become a deputy general manager and working directly with Dior’s then creative director, John Galliano.
She was credited with minimising the fallout from Galliano’s racist and antisemitic rants at people in a Paris bar in 2011 that led to him being sacked and convicted for racism and anti-semitism.
Arnault has said she was not heavily exposed to the family’s brands or extreme wealth as a child, but remembers getting a brown Louis Vuitton No bag on her 18th birthday and attending the first lavish party when she was 21, The Guardian reported.
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