François Pinault (born 21 August 1936) is a French billionaire businessman, founder of the luxury group Kering and the investment holding company Artémis.
Pinault started his business in the timber industry in the early 1960s. Taken public in 1988, his company invested in specialty store chains and changed its name to Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR). By the end of 1999, PPR shifted towards luxury and fashion. In 2003, he passed on the management of his companies to his elder son François-Henri to follow his passion for contemporary art.
The majority of Pinault’s wealth is derived from his family’s 41% stake in Kering, a publicly traded seller of luxury-goods. His son Francois-Henri is chief executive officer of the company. His stake is held through the family’s investment vehicle Groupe Artemis, which is controlled by Pinault and other members of his family, according to the company’s 2022 annual report. Pinault is credited with all of his family’s stake in Bloomberg’s calculation because he’s the founder.
Pinault is credited with a 29% stake in sports apparel company PUMA, following a spin-off from Kering in May 2018, according to the 2022 annual report.
Groupe Artemis also owns closely held auction house Christie’s and it’s valued using calculated annual revenue for 2022 based on reported sales results and the transaction multiple from Patrick Drahi’s 2019 Sotheby’s takeover.
Groupe Artemis had 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion) of bonds and loans outstanding as of March 2023, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and the debt is represented as a liability.
The value of his cash investments is based on an analysis of dividends, insider transactions, taxes and market performance. His other assets include an art collection that contains more than 2,000 works, vineyards and cruise-line operator Ponant.
Nazanine Ravai, a spokeswoman for the family, declined to comment on Pinault’s net worth calculation.
Biography
Early life
François Pinault was born on 21 August 1936 in Les Champs-Géraux, a commune in the north of Brittany in the west of France. His father was a timber trader.
Pinault grew up in the rural French countryside, beginning his career working for his family’s timber business. He dropped out of school at the age of 16 from the College Saint-Martin in Rennes. In 1956, he enlisted in the military during the Algerian war. Afterwards, he returned to the family business, which he sold following his father’s death.
In 1962, he married Louise Gautier. They had three children: François-Henri, Dominique, and Laurence Pinault. The couple divorced five years later, and in 1970, Pinault married Maryvonne Campbell, an antique trader in Rennes who introduced him to the world of art. His first art purchases date back to this period.
Career
François Pinault started his first business in 1963 as a wood-trading company. Pinault SA grew strongly and diversified its portfolio by acquiring several companies facing bankruptcy, including Chapelle Darblay, to restructure them. On 25 October 1988, Pinault SA was taken public in the Paris stock exchange and started to invest in specialty store chains. He acquired a majority stake in CFAO (specialized distribution in Africa), Conforama (furnishing retailer), Printemps (department store), La Redoute (mail order), and Fnac (books and electronics retailer). Pinault SA was renamed Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR) in 1993.
In 1992, Pinault set up the holding company Artémis to manage the Pinault family’s investments. Controlled 100% by Pinault and his family, Artémis controls the vineyards Château Latour (Bordeaux), Clos de Tart (Bourgogne), Domaine d’Eugénie (Vosne-Romanée), Château Grillet (Rhône Valley), Eisele Vineyard (Napa Valley), and the champagne Jacquesson. Artémis bought the news magazine Le Point in 1997, the auction house Christie’s in 1998, and the luxury cruise company Ponant in 2015. Pinault has been the owner of the Rennes football club since 1998.
By the end of century, François Pinault started to shift his business focus from retail to luxury. In March 1999, Pinault-Printemps-Redoute purchased a controlling 42% stake of the Gucci Group for $3 billion, and bought the Yves Saint Laurent company. Pinault then purchased the French jewelry company Boucheron in 2000, Balenciaga in 2001, and the British fashion house Alexander McQueen. In May 2003, he handed over the management of his companies to his son François-Henri who pursued the consolidation of the luxury group with new acquisitions (Brioni, Girard-Perregaux, Pomellato…) and changed the group’s name to Kering in 2013
Through Groupe Artemis, the family’s wholly owned investment vehicle that Pinault set up in 1992, he owns the Bretagne soccer team Stade Rennais and auction house Christie’s International, which he took private in 1998 for $1.2 billion.
PPR was renamed Kering in June 2013, and is led by Pinault’s son Francois-Henri, after the billionaire decided to focus to art. He abandoned plans in 2005 to build a museum outside Paris for his 2,000-piece collection, and turned instead to Italy. His Pinault Foundation now operates two museums in renovated Venice landmarks, Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana.
Milestones
- 1952 Drops out of high school at age 16.
- 1963 Starts own lumber business in city of Rennes.
- 1992 Acquires French department store chain Printemps.
- 1994 Buys retailer La Redoute, merges with Printemps, creating PPR.
- 1998 Purchases auction house Christie’s for $1.2 billion.
- 1999 Buys 42 percent stake in Gucci, diluting stake of rival, LVMH.
- 2001 PPR pays $2 billion for LVMH’s 20 percent stake in Gucci.
- 2006 Opens inaugural show at his Venice museum, Palazzo Grassi.
- 2013 Changes official name of PPR to Kering.
