Fashion

Arnault Wants To Be Friends With Hermes, Hermes Says Arnault is Full of It

There’s fighting in the world of European luxury. Hermès! Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesey! The stuff of luxe dreams. And with all the nuance and family drama you could possibly expect.

The backstory is that Hermès is accusing LVMH, which is run by Bernard Arnault, the richest man in Europe, of trying to slowly take over the family-owned luxury brand, according to Dow Jones. LVMH currently owns 20% of the company, and the Hermès family doesn’t want to fall into being fully under the LVMH umbrella.

The limited partnership that holds about 73% of the company, is open only to direct descendants of the Hermès clan. The head of this gang has confirmed that “the family is determined to maintain control of the company.”

While the family seems scared of a potential takeover, LVMH’s vice chairman has sworn (or, “formally denied”) that LVMH is trying to “destabilize” the family’s position in the company.

And where’s Arnault in all this mess? According to Reuters, the LVMH head wanted to reach a friendly agreement and approach the whole thing with a “conciliatory tone,” but Bernard Puech, who runs the family’s limited partnership, wouldn’t have any of that.

Puech rejected Arnault’s notion of playing for the same team: “After six months, we are the target of incessant attacks of the kind we’ve never seen in 174 years, even though LVMH says its approach to us is friendly. With friends like these, who needs enemies?”

TAGS: bernard arnault lvmh | hermes | lvmh hermes

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