In a pre-Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony interview, LVMH's Bernard Arnault sat down with CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin to discuss a few burning questions.
Arnault was posed with the question regarding an earlier Bloomberg business report that sees Arnault own a stake of competitor Compagnie Financière Richemont. Richemont is known to be a another luxury conglomerate that has recently been in the news after speculation that LVMH is looking to acquire the company. Arnault discussed the stakes in the company clarifying, "I know, well the owner, Mr. Johann Rupert of Richemont. We have a good relationship and I told him that I will never do anything against him. That's clear. And if I bought some shares, it's just my portfolio manager put some shares." He adds, "But it's a very minor stake and I am very happy. He has done something fantastic with Richemont, with Cartier, with Van Cleef, and I think he's independent. He wants to stay independent. And I agree completely on that."
Under Arnault's leadership, LVMH has grown its luxury empire, acquiring Tiffany & Co. for $16 billion USD in 2021. He also discussed conversations he had with fellow billionaire and friend Elon Musk. He praises Musk stating, "I admire very much what he's doing because I think he's a genius." He comments on his success with Tesla and SpaceX and even discussed the potential of the two billionaires and their companies working with each other. On a potential collaboration, Arnault seems to be open to the idea commenting, "Maybe we'll see a Louis Vuitton rocket, a SpaceX, Louis Vuitton collab. We have to think [about it]." He also claimed that Musk was not totally against the idea, "He did not say no." He did confess that he does not have much of an interest in going to space, "I'm not sure," Arnault said, and confessed, "I'm afraid he will ask me to go with him in the rocket."
For now, a crossover between LVMH and SpaceX has not yet been done but that might just happen in the future.
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