Bernard Arnault and his LVMH empire are forces to be reckoned with in Europe and past. Now, French media are bearing the brunt of the billionaire’s clout as Arnault seems to flex his media muscle.
Earlier this 12 months, the billionaire despatched a memo to employees banning them from chatting with reporters at choose French media shops. He warned that breaching the edict “will be considered a serious infraction, with the corresponding consequences attached to it,” based on The Monetary Occasions.
Within the word, he mentioned some websites leaned on the posh trade’s attract to report sensationalist information concerning the family-owned firm.
The transfer has infuriated French journalists, who collectively signed an open letter printed Tuesday within the nationwide newspaper Le Monde, towards Arnault’s effort to undermine the “mission of the press.”
Information publications together with Le Figaro, AFP, and two owned by Arnault—Les Échos and Le Parisien—have pushed again, saying that workers’ loyalty “must not allow their employers to deprive them of their fundamental rights by banning all contact with individuals of their choice.”
The open letter referred to as Arnault’s ban “illegal” and one which probably hampers whistleblowers from coming ahead.
Artur Widak—NurPhoto/Getty Picture
LVMH didn’t instantly return Fortune’s request for remark.
Arnault’s tussles with media
Arnault’s order, dated January 17, 2024, names a handful of French and English-language information publications, together with Glitz Paris, Miss Tweed, Puck, and La Lettre, which first reported concerning the memo final week.
The shops vary from enterprise to satirical and tabloid-style information. It’s unclear if particular topics or tales could have prompted Arnault to bar workers from participating with media.
Arnault is among the most influential figures in European enterprise. He’s France’s richest man, at present value $183 billion, though his wealth has plummeted this 12 months owing to a luxurious trade slowdown. Arnault and his household maintain large sway within the nation, with stakes throughout luxurious couture, actual property, leisure, and extra. Being within the public eye has include its share of awkward press protection, together with when Arnault confirmed he was pursuing Belgian citizenship in 2012 and was ridiculed for it.
The open letter marks yet one more pressure within the LVMH chief’s relationship with French media and the way he wields his energy. Final 12 months, the French press questioned the exit of Les Échos editor-in-chief Nicolas Barré, who left after 10 years to pursue a unique function inside the mum or dad firm.
Even when LVMH tried to buy Les Échos from British writer Pearson in 2007, journalists opposed the transfer, fearing it could give the posh conglomerate’s proprietor an excessive amount of management and deride editorial integrity.
Arnault has been increasing his media holdings currently. Along with the beforehand talked about information shops, he owns Radio Classique. He’s seeking to purchase gossip journal Paris Match, which chronicles the lives of the French capital metropolis’s A-listers.
The patriarch’s rationale behind his media holdings is straightforward: “philanthropy,” he mentioned throughout a French senate inquiry in 2022, reported by the Wall Road Journal. Given the shifting panorama of reports media, if he hadn’t invested in them, they could have folded.
