What are the LVMH subsidiaries?

LVMH is a French multinational corporation and conglomerate with a focus on luxury goods. The company, which is officially known as LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, was founded in 1987 by Bernard Arnault, Alain Chevalier, and Henry Racamier. Arnault, a French investor, had the idea to create a luxury brand group from the outset. To realize this vision, he collaborated with the CEO of Moët Hennessy Alain Chevalier and the president of Louis Vuitton Henry Racamier. The integration of these aspirational brands was ultimately successful and has been replicated by other companies in the industry. At the time of writing, LVMH operates 75 subsidiaries which it calls houses across six core sectors: wines and spirits, fashion and leather goods, perfumes and cosmetics, watches and jewelry, selective retailing, and other activities.

Subsidiary / Brand	Business Category	Key Differentiator	Integration Strategy
Louis Vuitton	Luxury Fashion and Accessories	Iconic monogram pattern, heritage, and craftsmanship.	Flagship luxury fashion brand, represents the pinnacle of LVMH’s fashion portfolio. Serves as a key driver of overall brand recognition and profitability.
Moët & Chandon	Champagne and Wines	Prestigious champagne with a long history of excellence.	Establishes LVMH as a dominant player in the luxury beverages market, complements its portfolio of luxury goods.
Hennessy	Cognac and Spirits	World-renowned cognac producer known for its quality.	Enhances LVMH’s position in the spirits industry and contributes to its diversified luxury portfolio.
Dior	Luxury Fashion and Beauty	Haute couture fashion and premium beauty products.	Represents the fusion of fashion and beauty under LVMH, contributing to a holistic luxury lifestyle offering.
Givenchy	Luxury Fashion and Beauty	High-end fashion, fragrances, and cosmetics.	Expands LVMH’s presence in luxury fashion and beauty, adding a unique creative flair to the portfolio.
Fendi	Luxury Fashion and Accessories	Italian luxury brand known for its fur and leather goods.	Provides diversity in fashion and complements other LVMH fashion brands.
Celine	Luxury Fashion	Minimalist and sophisticated fashion designs.	Represents LVMH’s commitment to luxury fashion and offers a distinct design aesthetic.
Benefit Cosmetics	Beauty and Cosmetics	Iconic beauty products with a fun and quirky image.	Strengthens LVMH’s presence in the beauty sector, appealing to a wide range of consumers.
Sephora	Beauty Retail	Leading beauty retailer with a wide range of brands.	Serves as a major distribution channel for LVMH beauty brands and provides a direct connection with consumers.
Dom Pérignon	Champagne	Prestigious champagne brand with a focus on vintage releases.	Adds to LVMH’s portfolio of luxury beverages and reinforces its reputation for excellence.
Bulgari	Luxury Jewelry and Accessories	High-end jewelry, watches, and accessories.	Expands LVMH’s presence in luxury jewelry and complements its watch brands.
TAG Heuer	Luxury Watches	Swiss watchmaker known for precision and innovation.	Enhances LVMH’s watchmaking expertise and Swiss luxury watch portfolio.
Rimowa	Luxury Luggage	Innovative luggage designs and durability.	Aligns with LVMH’s focus on craftsmanship and innovation in the travel and lifestyle sector.
Guerlain	Beauty and Fragrances	Luxury skincare, makeup, and fragrances.	Strengthens LVMH’s presence in the beauty and fragrance market, known for its heritage and quality.
Make Up For Ever	Beauty and Cosmetics	Professional makeup products and artist collaborations.	Offers professional-grade cosmetics, aligning with LVMH’s commitment to quality and innovation.
Kenzo	Fashion	Vibrant and creative fashion and fragrances.	Diversifies LVMH’s fashion portfolio with its unique creative approach.
Emilio Pucci	Luxury Fashion	Bold and colorful designs in fashion and accessories.	Adds a distinctive, artistic fashion perspective to LVMH’s luxury fashion portfolio.
Acqua di Parma	Fragrances and Grooming	Italian fragrances and grooming products.	Offers a niche in high-end fragrances and grooming within the LVMH beauty segment.
Marc Jacobs	Fashion	Contemporary fashion and accessories.	Complements LVMH’s fashion offerings with a contemporary and accessible brand.

History of LVMH

LVMH is a French multinational holding corporation and conglomerate with a core focus on luxury items.

The company owes its name to the merger that preceded its formation; namely, that of French fashion house Louis Vuitton (LV) and wine and spirits company Moët Hennessy (MH) in 1987.

How did this vast company – which is now worth around $330 billion – come to be?

Bernard Arnault

No LVMH founding story could omit to mention its founder, the French billionaire businessman Bernard Arnault.

In 1984, Arnault learned that the French government was looking for a buyer for a failed textile empire that also owned several other companies.

The failed empire was known as Boussac, and one of the companies it owned was the fashion house Christian Dior.

To buy Boussac, the 35-year-old Arnault ponied up $15 million of his own money with $45 million from the French financial services company Lazard Frères (now Lazard).

By the end of 1989 and just two years after acquiring Boussac, Arnault laid off 9,000 workers and sold its textile and disposable diaper division for around $500 million.

The merger between Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessy

In 1984 and quite separate from Arnault’s ambitions, Louis Vuitton announced it would merge with Moët Hennessy to create a joint holding company with more than $2 billion in revenue.

In charge of the new company known as LVMH was former steel tycoon Henry Racamier.

The deal was initially seen as a way for Louis Vuitton to expand and to protect Moët Hennessy from a takeover.

However, at some point, management from Louis Vuitton suspected that Moët Hennessy had nefarious intentions to take it over.

A torturous and protracted court battle then ensued with the families of both companies at odds over the best strategy moving forward.

Racamier hires Arnault

In a move that would prove to be his undoing, Racamier hired Arnault to bolster his support as disagreements between the Vuitton family, Moët Champagne, and Hennessy Cognac continued.

However, Racamier and Arnault themselves also clashed over their different management styles.

In the end, Arnault acquired a significant 34.5% stake in LVMH and, in 1989, forced Racamier to resign from his position as chairman after winning a court battle.

Victorious, the 43-year-old Arnault had control over France’s largest-public owned company.

Acquisitions and early headwinds

Despite acquiring several successful luxury brands in the early 1990s such as Givenchy, Loewe, Sephora, Thomas Pink, and Kenzo, sales were impacted by the Asian economic crisis.

Since the Asian market was responsible for almost 50% of LVMH’s revenue, the company’s share price experienced a slow but steady decline over the decade.

It did not start to rise until LVMH acquired the Gucci Group in 1999, which kicked off the luxury wars, and eventually, Gucci ended up in the hands of Kering.

kering-business-model — Kering Group follows a multi-brand business model strategy. The central holding helps the brands and Houses part of its portfolio leverage economies of scale while creating synergies. At the same time, those brands are run independently. Kering is today a global luxury brand that made over €20 billion in revenue based on this multi-brand strategy. Within Kering Group are brands like Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, and many more—the primary operating segments based on luxury and lifestyle.

Today Gucci is a powerhouse, and the most prominent brand within Kering, generating nearly €10.5 billion in revenue!

gucci-revenue — Gucci generated €10.49 billion in revenue in 2022, compared to €9.73 billion in 2021 and €7.44 billion in 2020.

Further acquisitions

In the 2000s, Arnault added more brands such as DKNY, Fendi, Moynat, Loro Piana, Repossi, Jean Patou, Dior, and Stella McCartney.

While LVMH now owns more than 70 different brands, each brand has creative autonomy and its heritage is preserved. Nevertheless, each leans on LVMH’s centralized corporate and financial support as required.

In acquiring so many brands, LVMH has created an oligopolistic luxury fashion market structure that few thought possible a few decades ago.

Parfums Christian Dior

Parfums Christian Dior is the perfumery, makeup, and skincare line of French fashion house Christian Dior SE which was founded in 1946 and is now chaired by Bernard Arnault.

The first product to be released was a women’s perfume, but in more recent times the subsidiary has started selling men’s fragrances and a greater variety of cosmetics. These include foundations, concealers, mascara, brushes, and lipstick.

Dom Pérignon

Dom Pérignon is a vintage champagne brand that was named after the Benedictine monk and cellar master who was a pioneer of blending grapes to improve wine quality.

The quality and pedigree of Dom Pérignon are such that the wine will not be produced in years considered to be poor vintages. LMVH assumed control over the company when it acquired fellow wines and spirits house Moët & Chandon.

Chaumet

Chaumet is a luxury jeweler and watchmaker that was founded in 1780 by Marie-Étienne Nitot. With over 240 years of craftsmanship experience and an impressive list of clientele, the company has seen expansion into Asia with a particular focus on the Chinese market.

LVMH acquired Chaumet in 2012.

DFS

One of the less well-known LVMH subsidiaries is luxury product travel retailer DFS.

The company, which was founded in Hong Kong in 1960, operates over 400 duty-free stores across 15 major airports and 18 popular travel destinations.

In addition to high-end products, DFS also sells premium services such as a beauty concierge and exclusive airport lounge access.

Royal Van Lent

Royal Van Lent is a Dutch manufacturer of luxury yachts that was founded as an association of families to revive the industry after World War II.

One of these families was the Van Lent family, who owned a shipyard many years beforehand and consistently produced fast yachts that won speed races.

The company was awarded its royal charter in 2001, with LVMH acquiring it seven years later. Royal Van Lent’s signature Feadship Tango superyacht was released in 2011 and retailed for approximately $120 million.

Joseph Phelps

Joseph Phelps is a family-owned and operated winery in the famed Napa Valley wine region of California. Founder Joseph Phelps started his eponymous company in 1973 at a time when Napa Valley itself was a small, agricultural town that was yet to realize its potential.

Phelps decided early on that he would make a unique blend each year based on the best available grapes, and today, the company’s Bordeaux-style blend Insignia is regarded as a qualitative benchmark by Californian winemakers.

LVMH’s Moët Hennessy division acquired Joseph Phelps Vineyards in June 2022.

Fresh

Fresh is a beauty and cosmetics company that was founded in 1991 by Russian immigrants Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg. On its About page, Fresh explains that “By combining potent natural ingredients, ancient rituals, and modern science, fresh creates beauty products that perform with experiences that transform.”

Glazman and Roytberg believed that beauty products should be both effective and indulgent and started with a simple store that sold hand-wrapped soap. But after they found it difficult to source natural products that looked, smelled, and felt as good as they worked, they decided to make their own.

LVMH acquired a majority stake in the Boston, Massachusetts-based brand in 1999 for an undisclosed sum. This gave the co-founders access to LVMH’s R&D lab and saw their products stocked in the stores of fellow LVMH brand Sephora.

Fred

Fred is a French jewelry and watches brand that was founded in Paris in 1936 by Fred Samuel. Born in Argentina, Samuel arrived in the French capital as a teenager and trained with the Worms company as a trader of precious pearls and stones.

Later, Samuel opened a store in his own name in the eighth arrondissement of Paris and was one of the first importers of Japanese cultured pearls. His creativity and innovation upset the Parisian elite initially, but his jewelry became popular over time.

Fred was purchased by LMVH in 1996 and was the conglomerate’s first jewelry brand acquisition.

24S

24S is a luxury fashion company that was launched by LVMH in 2017. Initially known as 24 Sèvres, the company’s eCommerce platform was created to better compete against competitors such as Net-a-Porter and Farfetch.

According to LVMH, 24S ”brings the spirit and excitement of Paris around the world with a selection of more than 300 fashion and beauty brands.” Customers can also enjoy exclusive access to creations from prestigious luxury houses and emerging designers.

Veuve Clicquot

Veuve Clicquot – officially Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin – is a French champagne house that was founded in Reims in 1772 by Philippe Clicquot.

Former textile merchant and banker Clicquot owned vineyards in Champagne and decided to offer his wines to foreign clientele. However, Clicquot’s wife Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin took over the business after he passed away from illness at age 30.

Affectionately known as Madame Clicquot, Ponsardin released the first known vintage champagne in 1810 and also developed the first blended rosé champagne. What’s more, she introduced her wines to royal courts in Imperial Russia and established Veuve Clicquot as the preferred drink of nobility and high society.

LVMH acquired Veuve Clicquot in 1986 – just one year before the merger with Moët Hennessy.

Key takeaways

LVMH is a French multinational corporation and conglomerate with a focus on luxury goods. At the time of writing, LVMH operates 75 subsidiaries which it calls houses across six core sectors.
Parfums Christian Dior is a men’s and women’s cosmetic company owned by LVMH, while the famous champagne brand Dom Pérignon also came under the company umbrella after it acquired fellow wines and spirits brand Moët & Chandon.
Some lesser-known LVMH subsidiaries include luxury watch and jewelry maker Chaumet, premium duty-free product and service provider DFS, and Dutch yacht manufacturer Royal Van Lent.

Key Highlights:

LVMH Overview: LVMH (LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) is a prominent French multinational corporation and conglomerate specializing in luxury goods. Founded in 1987, it operates across various sectors including wines and spirits, fashion and leather goods, perfumes and cosmetics, watches and jewelry, selective retailing, and other activities.
Founding and Merger: LVMH was established through the merger of two iconic entities: Louis Vuitton, a renowned fashion house (LV), and Moët Hennessy, a prestigious wine and spirits company (MH).
Founder Bernard Arnault: Bernard Arnault, a French billionaire and investor, played a pivotal role in LVMH’s formation. He initiated the idea of creating a luxury brand conglomerate and collaborated with Moët Hennessy CEO Alain Chevalier and Louis Vuitton President Henry Racamier to realize this vision.
Arnault’s Ascendancy: Bernard Arnault’s wealth and influence are integral to LVMH’s success. He acquired a significant stake in LVMH, leading to his control of the company. His ownership stake is substantial, making him the principal owner and decision-maker.
Expansion and Acquisitions: LVMH embarked on a path of expansion and acquisitions, adding numerous prestigious brands to its portfolio. Some well-known acquisitions include Givenchy, Dior, Sephora, Fendi, and Moynat.
Gucci Acquisition and Luxury Wars: LVMH’s acquisition of the Gucci Group in 1999 marked a significant moment in the luxury industry, sparking intense competition known as the “luxury wars.” Gucci eventually ended up with Kering Group, another luxury conglomerate.
Diverse Luxury Portfolio: LVMH owns more than 70 different brands, spanning various luxury sectors. These include fashion, cosmetics, wine, spirits, jewelry, and yachts, among others.
Notable Subsidiaries: Some of LVMH’s subsidiaries include Parfums Christian Dior, Dom Pérignon champagne, Chaumet jewelry, DFS luxury travel retail, and Royal Van Lent yacht manufacturing.
Fresh and Fred: LVMH acquired Fresh, a cosmetics company known for its natural products, and Fred, a French jewelry and watch brand.
24S: LVMH launched 24S, a luxury fashion company, to compete in the eCommerce fashion market, offering a curated selection of fashion and beauty brands.
Historic Legacy: LVMH’s history is intertwined with the legacies of iconic figures like Bernard Arnault, Madame Clicquot of Veuve Clicquot champagne, and the innovative founder of Louis Vuitton.
Ongoing Success: As of the latest information, LVMH is a dominant force in the luxury goods industry, with a market capitalization of around $330 billion and a diverse range of luxury brands under its umbrella.
Global Luxury Influence: LVMH has played a significant role in shaping the global luxury fashion market and has contributed to the success of numerous luxury brands across the world.

What brands are owned by LVMH?

LVMH Group generated €64.2 billion in revenues in 2021, comprising 75 houses and brands like Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior Couture, Fendi, Loro Piana, and many others. The company employed 175,000 people in 2021.

Does LVMH own Gucci?

LVMH does not own Gucci. Rival Kering owns Gucci. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a war between Prada, Kering, and LVMH ensued to take over Gucci, which eventually would be successfully bought by Kering. In 2021, as part of Kering, Gucci generated €9.73 billion in revenues.

Is Prada owned by LVMH?

LVMH does not own Prada. Prada is still in the hands of Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli. It’s one of the few fashion brands still in the hand of the family which founded it.