LVMH Chairperson and CEO Bernard Arnault tightened his family's grip on the luxury goods empire on Wednesday, putting his daughter Delphine in charge of one of its leading labels, Christian Dior, in a management revamp.
The world's largest luxury group also replaced long-time Louis Vuitton CEO Michael Burke with Pietro Beccari, head of Dior since 2018.
"Both are well respected; logical promotions within the group," said Credit Suisse analyst Natasha Brilliant.
LVMH, Europe's most valuable company at about 380 billion euros ($408 billion), rose as much as 2% to hit new highs. Luxury company shares have been boosted recently by easing COVID-19 restrictions in China, a key market.
Delphine Arnault, 47, has worked at Louis Vuitton for the past decade alongside Burke and previously spent a dozen years at Dior. Burke will continue to work with Bernard Arnault, the company said in a statement.
Beccari, who also previously led LVMH-owned label Fendi, increased sales at Christian Dior three-fold to 6.6 billion euros during his tenure, according to estimates from Citi. LVMH does not provide a breakdown of the annual sales of its brands.
"Succession planning in strategic roles has been instrumental to the success of LVMH's key brands over the past 20 years. Hence today's moves are significant," said Thomas Chauvet, an analyst with Citi.
The announced changes, which come into effect in February, follow the recent appointment of Antoine Arnault, Bernard Arnault's eldest son, to head the family holding company, replacing veteran executive Sidney Toledano.
The tightening of the family's hold on its empire also comes amid a wave of high-profile successions in other fashion companies in Europe.
Bernard Arnault, 73, has shown no signs he plans to step down soon, and the company last year raised the maximum age of its CEO to 80 from 75.
Delphine and Antoine, 45, are children from their father's first marriage.
Alexandre Arnault, 30, is an executive at Tiffany, while Frederic Arnault, 28, is CEO of another group brand, TAG Heuer. The youngest child, Jean Arnault, 24, heads the marketing and product development division for Louis Vuitton's watches.
As part of the management changes, the company is also folding Tiffany into the watches and jewelry division, under the management of Stephane Bianchi.
