Bernard Arnault, The Unassuming Billionaire
At first glance you wouldn’t know it, but Bernard Arnault is the world’s luxury taste-maker. He won’t be flashing you with ridiculous fashion statements and blingy rings any time soon though. “All that interests me is promoting my brands, never myself,” he once said.
This unassuming facade hides his acumen at pulling small brands out of obscurity and placing them at the top of the world’s consciousness. Acquiring these brands in the first place is an art that has earned him the title of “the wolf in a cashmere coat”.
This commitment to the LVMH group has pushed Arnault to become the world’s richest man at the time of writing. As these things go, its a position he’s been trading with Elon Musk over the last year or two. While Elon’s fortunes seem to rise and fall on the whim of his Twitter feed, Arnault takes a no-nonsense approach growing his businesses.
While the rest of the world is buying products from China, LVMH group is one of the few producing products in Europe and selling them in China with great success.
In a 2007 interview with Times, he noted China’s potential; “… China is clearly going to be the number one economic power and it is already full of potential — with lots of population and the buying power increasing by the day”.
Last year, during the midst of lockdowns and a sweeping downturn in the global economy, Asia was the only region where LVMH reported revenue growth for the July-September quarter, with a 13% rise from a year earlier.
So what can we learn from Bernard’s strategy? He puts it simply like this; “Luxury goods are the only area in which it is possible to make luxury margins”.
Best Quotes From Bernard Arnault
“Luxury goods are the only area in which it is possible to make luxury margins.”
“A good product can last forever.”
“If you control your distribution, you control your image.”
“Money is just a consequence. I always say to my team, don’t worry too much about profitability. If you do your job well, the profitability will come.”
“The goal of a start-up is not to stay a start-up. The goal of a start-up is to grow and to become, if possible, a large company.”