BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JANUARY 10, 2000 ISSUE
COVER STORY LVMH's Big Shopper KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS From just 23 in Oct. '98, LVMH's U.S. shares have vaulted 280%, to about 87 Earnings should grow 17% in '99, to $744 million, on sales up 15% to 20% Who would have thought back in the fall of '98 that things would be looking so good today for BERNARD ARNAULT? As the Asian economic crisis torpedoed global demand for luxury goods, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMHY) shares nosedived. But rather than hunkering down or cutting back, CEO Arnault, 50, began to boldly transform the world's largest luxury-goods maker. In the past year, he has launched the biggest acquisition spree in the company's history, spending more than $1.1 billion to buy everything from Swiss watchmakers and trendy U.S. cosmetics companies to the venerable British auction house Phillips. LVMH also is moving aggressively into mass retailing with its Sephora cosmetics chain, which opened 50 new stores in North America since 1998. The result: The Paris-based conglomerate is stronger than ever. With both sales and earnings again showing double-digit gains, and margins on the rise, the stock has roared back. As if that weren't enough, Arnault has emerged as a key player in European e-business. In July, his family holding company set up a $500 million fund that has taken stakes in more than 20 Internet startups. Thinking big is the hallmark of the coolly patrician Arnault, who once hoped to become a concert pianist but instead took over a bankrupt textile company and built it into the $8 billion-a-year LVMH. Now that's something worth raising a glass of bubbly over. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS INTRODUCTION MANAGERS TO WATCH THE TOP ENTREPRENEURS THE TOP 25 MANAGERS Minuro Arakawa Bernard Arnault Arthur Blank Peter Bijur Gordon Binder Steve Case John Chambers James Curvey Thierry Desmarest Bernie Ebbers Tom Engibous Chris Gent Irwin Jacobs Steve Jobs Mel Karmazin James Kelly Timothy Koogle Ken Lay Jenny Ming Thomas Siebel Masayoshi Son Martha Stewart Keiji Tachikawa Jack Welch Yun Jong Yong ONLINE EXTRAS TO BUSINESS WEEK INVESTOR INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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