Bernard Arnault Hailed as ‘God of Fortune’ in China
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SHANGHAI — After a day trip in Beijing, Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, spent Wednesday in Chengdu and Thursday in Shanghai during his whirlwind China trip.
Customers who caught wind of his whereabouts crowded shopping malls to glimpse him up close. Perhaps their only chance to see the man of such great fortune in person, they documented his visit with enthusiasm and deity-like worship, hailing him as “the god of fortunes.”
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Despite a growing number of fortune-seekers trekking along at every stop, Arnault took his time to inspect many LVMH-owned retail outposts in detail.
Arnault and a group of LVMH executives, including his daughter, Delphine Arnault, chairman and CEO of Christian Dior Couture; his youngest son Jean Arnault, director of marketing and development, Louis Vuitton watches; Michael Schriver, LVMH group president North Asia; Charles Delapalme, CEO of Christian Dior Couture; Pietro Beccari, chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton, were joined by the head of local retail partners on his store visits, which included Sino–Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu, Chengdu IFS, Chengdu SKP, Shanghai’s Taikoo Li Qiantan, HKRI Taikoo Hui, Zhang Yuan, Shanghai IFC and Plaza 66.
“The weather was amazing, the mall was packed, Mr. Bernard Arnault was even more gracious, kinder and happier than the last time he visited,” Molly Wu, general manager of Sino–Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu shared on Xiaohongshu, the popular social commerce platform.
Arnault’s high-profile China trip is viewed as an effective strategy to reiterate the importance of the China market and boost team morale.
“The move is to tell shoppers and local partners that the company is confident and has high hopes for the future of the China market, especially now that the market is experiencing an uneven economic recovery,” said Ting Zhou, dean of Yaok Institute, a luxury research and consulting organization in China.
“The head of luxury brands want to be on the ground to obtain more firsthand information that will better inform their decision-making process and management strategy,” Zhou added.
According to sources on Chinese social media, Arnault will be heading to Hong Kong Friday.
Despite an uncertain economic outlook, the China market continues to be a main driver of growth for LVMH, and helped lift group revenue by 17 percent in the first quarter.
Arnault’s China visit follows trips made by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, to Beijing last month. In recent months, Chinese authorities have been keen to woo global executives to assuage concern that the country is closing off to foreign business despite last December’s reopening.
During the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin this Tuesday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang urged countries to “strengthen dialogue, bridge differences and enhance consensus to avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations.”
Li said China “firmly opposes politicizing economic and trade issues” and stressed that “openness and cooperation should be cherished.”
Li concluded his speech by saying that China remains confident that it would achieve this year’s economic growth target of “around 5 percent.” He remained confident that second-quarter gross domestic product growth could surpass first quarter’s 4.5 percent.
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