By
Bloomberg
Published
November 22, 2024
Francois Pinault, the octogenarian founder of Kering SA, is no longer among the 100 richest people in the world as his son struggles to turn around the French luxury conglomerate’s biggest brand, Gucci.
Pinault, 88, fell to No. 105 in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the first time he’s been out of the top one-fifth of the 500-person ranking since his name was added a dozen years ago. His wealth has dropped by two-thirds to $20.3 billion through Thursday from an August 2021 high, the largest percentage decline of anyone still on the index over the period. At that time he was ranked No. 22.
The loss of wealth for the Pinault family is remarkable even amid an overall decline for the luxury sector, which has been hit hard by weaker demand in China for high-end goods like designer clothes, fine wines and cosmetics. Bernard Arnault, founder of rival and far bigger luxury conglomerate LVMH, has dropped to No. 5 in the ranking from the top spot, while Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, heir to the L’Oreal SA beauty products fortune, has tumbled to No. 21 after a long stint as the world’s richest woman.
Pinault’s wealth decline has come while Kering has been under the watch of his son, Francois-Henri Pinault, 62, who took the helm nearly two decades ago and was instrumental in focusing the empire on luxury from a hodge-podge of retail assets. Yet during his tenure, Kering has remained largely dependent on Gucci, whose success in the cutthroat fashion industry has ebbed and flowed over the years. The Pinault clan holds a 42% stake and 59% of voting rights in Paris-based Kering, whose shares have fallen by almost half this year.
Francois-Henri has pledged to turn around Gucci, but last month’s sales warning in a quarterly report was the third in 2024 by Kering, whose other brands include Yves Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga. Annual profit this year will fall to the lowest level since 2016 amid an “oversized impact” at Gucci from market conditions, especially in Asia, the company said.
“We are working tirelessly to create the conditions for a return to growth,” the younger Pinault, who is Kering’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in a September letter to shareholders.
Both he and his father are managing partners of Groupe Artemis, the family’s holding company with consolidated assets of about €40 billion ($42 billion), according to its website. The younger Pinault’s siblings, Laurence and Dominique, are chair and vice-chair of the supervisory board, respectively, and each now has a child on the board.
Artemis’ assets include prestigious vineyards, Christie’s auction house, and contemporary art museums in Paris and Venice. Artemis last year acquired a 53.3% stake valued at $3.7 billion in Los Angeles-based talent management firm Creative Artists Agency, which offers information on its website about how to book speakers including Francois-Henri’s actress wife, Salma Hayek.
