Francois Pinault, the octogenarian founder of Kering SA, has seen his family’s fortune drop by more than two-thirds since a pandemic-era boom as his son struggles to turn around the French luxury conglomerate’s biggest brand, Gucci.
The 88-year-old Pinault’s net worth has fallen by 69 percent to $18.6 billion from August 2021, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That’s the largest decline over that period in dollar terms of anyone on the list, including Bernard Arnault, the founder of rival LVMH, which has also been hit by a drop in demand for high-end goods.
Kering’s stock price performance is frustrating and “not brilliant at all,” son Francois-Henri Pinault, who is chairman and chief executive officer, told shareholders Thursday at an annual meeting in Paris. “It’s a significant drop that I know brings you disappointment and financial implications.”
The 62-year-old heir has been trying to turn around Gucci for a couple of years, but this week’s report showing a 25 percent quarterly drop in comparable revenue laid bare just how deeply troubled the brand has become under his stewardship. Since Gucci’s performance started to disappoint in 2022, Kering has undergone a series of corporate management overhauls and changed Gucci’s top designers twice — moves that have so far failed to reignite demand for the once-hot label.
In 2024, Francois-Henri Pinault, or FHP as he’s known, called the previous year “trying” and said the focus was on revitalising Gucci. At that time, his hopes were still set on designer Sabato De Sarno. Fast forward to this week and the CEO is now pinning Gucci’s future and his fortune on a replacement, Demna Gvasalia, who goes by the mononym Demna.
Restoring the desirability of Kering’s brands will revive the shares, he said Thursday in response to a question from an investor about the stock price, which has dropped 27 percent this year.
While acknowledging that Demna’s nomination wasn’t well-received by the financial markets, the CEO said the choice was an obvious one because he’s “one of the most influential and talented designers of his generation.”
Market Turbulence
The loss of wealth for the Pinault family is remarkable even amid a more general decline in the luxury sector and global market turbulence triggered by President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Demand in China has weakened for expensive designer clothes and fine wines, which has also hurt LVMH.
The younger Pinault took the helm about two decades ago and was instrumental in focusing the empire on luxury from a hodge-podge of retail assets. 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 percent stake and 59 percent of voting rights in Paris-based Kering.
Both he and his father are managing partners of Groupe Artemis, the family’s holding company with consolidated assets valued at about €60 billion ($68 billion), according to its website. Artemis’ investments include Puma, Creative Artists Agency, prestigious vineyards, Christie’s auction house, luxury cruise company Ponant as well as tech and media assets.
The younger Pinault’s siblings, Laurence and Dominique, are chair and vice chair of the Artemis supervisory board, respectively, and each now has a child on the board. They include Francois-Henri’s son, Francois Louis Pinault, who joined the board of Christie’s last year, and Dominique Pinault’s daughter, Gaelle Pinault.
Laurence Pinault’s daughter, Olivia Fournet, is also retail and international development director at Kering brand Balenciaga after starting at the group about a decade ago, according to her LinkedIn profile.
By Tara Patel and Angelina Rascouet
Learn more:
Will Gucci’s Demna Strategy Work?
The financial markets and fashion fans on social media have rejected Kering’s bet on the zeitgeist-shaping Balenciaga designer to revive its ailing flagship. BoF’s Imran Amed has a different view.
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