Alexandre Arnault, one of French luxury goods titan Bernard Arnault’s sons, will serve as deputy chief executive of LVMH’s wines and spirits division, Moët Hennessy. The unit includes champagne houses Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon, and Veuve Clicquot, as well as cognac brand Hennessy.
Starting in February, the 32-year-old heir will work alongside LVMH’s longtime CFO, Jean-Jacques Guiony, who will also join Moët Hennessy as its new CEO. With all five of Bernard Arnault’s children having operational roles within the group, the appointment has reignited speculation over who might one day take the helm of the conglomerate.
Alexandre has held various executive positions at LVMH, including a four-year stint as CEO of German luggage maker Rimowa and as vice president of product, communications, and industrial affairs at Tiffany & Co., which LVMH bought for $15.8 billion in 2021. Under his leadership, sales increased, making the New York-based jeweler the largest contributor to the group’s growth.
“Having proven himself by helping Rimowa’s expansion, one of LVMH’s newly acquired brands, as well as by strategically repositioning Tiffany’s, the only American legacy brand owned by his family’s conglomerate, the young Arnault has now been assigned his toughest task yet,” observes Thomaï Serdari, professor of marketing at NYU’s Stern School of Business. “It seems that his challenges intensify with each appointment.”
The challenges have indeed intensified. Due largely to weak demand in China and the US, the wine and spirits division’s sales fell 8% in the first nine months of 2024, with revenue down 7%, a steep drop compared to the group’s overall 3% decline.
“As the deputy CEO, Alexandre needs to reference his own playbook of how to grow individual brands under the Moët Hennessy umbrella and generate cultural relevance around wines and spirits, a category that has a diminished appeal for GenZers,” Serdari says. “Most importantly, he is asked to dust off his corporate finance skills and help the portfolio navigate a tax regulatory landscape that is veiled in uncertainty.” If he succeeds, Serdari argues, Alexandre will be well positioned for the top job in the family business.
