Bernard Arnault Full Q&A Oxford Union (YouTube screen capture)
French billionaire Bernard Arnault, the world’s wealthiest man, can’t have everything, or buy anything he wants as the case may be. At least not in Beverly Hills where, according to the Commercial Observer just 125 votes blocked the mogul’s plan to build a new hotel there called the Cheval Blanc Hotel. And in other bad news for the billionaire, Fortune reported that he lost $11 billion in wealth recently leaving the poor guy with less than $200 billion in his fortune.
The $11 billion was lost when his company’s stock suffered a major drop in value last week.
The Beatles said that money can’t buy you love. Well, apparently it also can’t buy you that vanity hotel project that you wanted to build in one of the swankiest neighborhoods in America. Or at least it can’t do that for Bernard Arnault, who has an estimated wealth of $193 billion, according to Forbes.
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Bernard Arnault’s company Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) wanted to build a 109-room Cheval Blanc-branded hotel there, Commercial Observer said citing Los Angeles County officials. But the plans were shot down in a special election that included a ballot initiative over whether or not locals would approve the zoning changes that were needed to allow for the hotel’s construction.
But if the plan had been approved then LVMH would have paid $28 million to the city and the hotel was expected to bring Beverly Hills an estimated $750 million over the next 30 years.
Bernard Arnault is Chairman and CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, the world’s leading luxury products group. His personal wealth increased by more than $110 billion in a little over a year’s time, going from $76 billion in March 2020 to $186.3 this May. His LVMH, which also owns household names like Fendi, Christian Dior and Givenchy, saw an unprecedented rise in its stock price during the Covid 19 crisis.
According to his official company bio, Bernard Arnault was born to an industrial family in Roubaix, France on March 5, 1949, Mr. Arnault attended the Roubaix lycée and the Faidherbe lycée in Lille. He then went on to study at the Ecole Polytechnique.
He began his professional career that year as an engineer with the Ferret-Savinel construction company and successively was promoted to various executive management positions before becoming Chairman in 1978.
Bernard Arnault remained there until 1984, when he undertook the reorganization of the Financière Agache holding company. He returned the group to profitability as he embarked upon a strategy of developing the world’s leading luxury products company. In the process, he reinvigorated Christian Dior as the cornerstone of the new organization.
In 1989, Bernard Arnault became the majority shareholder of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, creating the world’s leading luxury products group. Mr. Arnault has been Chairman and CEO of the company since that date.
