Bernard Arnault is known in France as the Pope of luxury — an overarching figure revered throughout an industry that likes to boast of the ancestral savoir-faire behind its handbags, couture clothes and necklaces.
Yet in truth there is nothing ancestral about Arnault’s roots in the luxury goods business. Born into a family in northern France that controlled a construction company, he got into l’industrie de luxe in 1984 with a daring raid on a disposable nappy maker, which happened to have Christian Dior among its assets. It was a brilliant coup — no one else had realised the potential of the sleepy Dior label — and it was followed by another stroke of genius as he took control of Louis Vuitton, the bag maker, and Moët Hennessy, the drinks business, six years later.
In the rarefied atmosphere of European luxury goods, Mr Arnault was seen as an upstart without experience or breeding. But the upstart swiftly turned the tables on French and Italian establishments with acquisitions that changed the face of the luxury industry and transformed LVMH into the market leader. He swallowed Fendi, TAG Heuer and Berluti, amongst others, and last year emerged with a raid on Hermès. With the Hermès family resisting his embrace, the struggle for the scarf maker could last for years. But the purchase of Bulgari proves that it will not distract Mr Arnault from his expansionist path.