Bernard Arnault

French chief business executive and largest shareholder of the haute couture house, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), first appointed as Chairman on 26 September 1988. The owner of such immortal names in the world of fashion as Vuitton, Dior and Givenchy, he became known as the Pope of Fashion. Bernard Arnault is a household name in France, one of the nation’s wealthiest men with an estimated net worth of $6 billion. Originally, he was an engineer with a background in computer science so has always kept up an interest in the information highway. He began using PCs in the ‘70s, and talked with Bill Gates and other venture capitalists in the Silicon Valley, exchanging ideas. A graduate of Ecole Polytechnique, one of France's most prestigious schools, he was previously president and CEO of the international construction group Ferret Savinel with major interests in the United States (Ferinel Inc.). Arnault's principal extra-professional interest is music and his favorite sport is tennis. He is known as being extremely charming but ruthless. With an almost photographic memory, he recalls the smallest details, but when he chooses, forgets a former failure.. LVMH, the world's biggest luxury goods company, has strengthened its bid to become the world's biggest fine art auctioneer by buying De Pury & Luxembourg, a Geneva art boutique headed by Simon de Pury, one of Europe's best-known art dealers. Known for being on the cutting edge, Arnault began to invest more than $500 million into Internet ventures in Europe, staking a claim in a market that seems to be on the verge of booming. He set up investments in about 30 startups as well as backing U.S. startups such as E-Loan Inc. (EELN) to help them with their European expansions. By summer 2000, Arnault's sortie into cyberspace had netted him stakes in 42 companies but the dot.com strategy of France's richest man had fallen apart by the following April. Just as Arnault was readying to float Europ@web for 3bn euros, fashion website Boo.com burned out. More than $135m (£94m) went up in flames - $12m belonging to Arnault. Worse, the Nasdaq fell, at first slowly and then inexorably into freefall. Link to Wikipedia biography