Author: openjargon

• US recycling centers lose up to $1 million annually due to valuable materials ending up in landfills.
• AI startups, including EverestLabs, use robots and machine learning to recover more recyclables. 
• Aluminum and plastic are valuable as companies use more recycled content to hit climate goals.

It's well known that the US is bad at recycling.

Companies don't make enough recyclable containers and packaging, and people are confused about what can go in the blue bin. A patchwork of state and local collection systems doesn't help.

Even when aluminum cans, laundry jugs, and soda bottles do make it to recycling centers, some 27% of those potentially valuable materials still end up in landfills, according to a study by EverestLabs, an AI robotics company that's trying to solve the problem. That means US recycling centers could be losing up to $1 million every year on materials that could be sold to manufacturers and made into something new.

EverestLabs is among a group of AI startups disrupting the waste sector by using 3D cameras, machine learning, and robots in recycling centers to help recover more materials, boost profits, and ideally reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. If more aluminum, plastic, cardboard, and glass get recycled, fewer virgin materials would need to be extracted from mining and fossil-fuel production.

"Recycling plants have been using outdated technologies," JD Ambati, the CEO and founder of EverestLabs, told Business Insider. "They're focused on processing volume at a high throughput, which has the unintended consequences of a lot of material getting shoved into the conveyor lines that send the materials to the landfill."

As part of its study, EverestLabs spent two years monitoring the waste stream at dozens of recycling centers across the country. Each of the centers processed hundreds of tons of materials a day. The study measured losses of the most valuable recycled commodities, aluminum and certain types of plastic, but didn't cover cardboard or glass.

Ambati said aluminum and plastic are in high demand because companies selling packaged food, beverages, and household products are trying to use more recycled content to meet sustainability goals. Some US states, the European Union, and Australia also have regulations requiring a certain percentage of plastic containers to be made with recycled content to help reduce waste piling up in landfills and the environment.

About 76% of recyclables in the US are being lost in the trash at home, according to The Recycling Partnership, a nonprofit group that conducts research and works with companies and governments to fund new infrastructure and education projects. Only about 3% of recyclables are lost at processing centers, but new technology is needed to sort and process more materials, the group said.

"A million-dollar loss is substantial for these recycling plants," Ambati said, adding that the waste industry is starting to see the benefits of investing in AI. "They wanted to get comfortable with what this technology can do."

EverestLabs' customers are some of the biggest waste haulers and recyclers in North America, including Republic Services, Novelis, and Balcones Resources.

Last year, Caglia Environmental, which serves the Fresno and San Joaquin Valley region in California, installed EverestLabs' technology on one of its "last chance" lines to identify aluminum cans mistakenly destined for the landfill. It is expected to divert more than 1 million cans away from landfills and back to recycling plants that sell the material to manufacturers.

"Every time an aluminum can is thrown in the trash, it's just a horrendous waste to the Earth," Ambati said. "It is infinitely recyclable and can become part of your car door, washing machine, window frames, you name it. That is what people are missing."

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• Bitcoin is a "fraud," a "Ponzi scheme," and cannot serve as a currency, Jamie Dimon said.
• The JPMorgan CEO said cryptos that enable smart contracts and blockchain apps might have value.
• Dimon has dismissed bitcoin as a "pet rock" in the past, and slammed it for enabling criminals.

Bitcoin is a scam and fails as a currency, Jamie Dimon said.

"If you mean crypto like bitcoin, I've always said it's a fraud," the JPMorgan CEO told Bloomberg TV on Wednesday.

"If they think they're a currency, there's no hope for it. It's a Ponzi scheme," he added.

However, the billionaire banker did say tokens that serve a purpose may not be worthless.

"If it's a crypto coin that can do something like a smart contract, that has value," he said. "There will be smart contracts, and blockchain works — to the extent crypto is accessing certain blockchain things, yeah, that might have some value."

Dimon has trashed bitcoin repeatedly in recent years. He's compared it to smoking a cigarette, warned it's "dangerous" to own, urged people not to buy it, and called on governments to ban it.

The Wall Street heavyweight has also decried the most popular crypto as a "waste of time," a "hyped-up fraud," and a "pet rock."

Moreover, he's bemoaned the anonymity it provides and the lack of regulation around its use, saying it enables crimes such as fraud, tax avoidance, money laundering, sex and drug trafficking, and terrorism financing.

Dimon may be vehemently opposed to bitcoin, but that hasn't stopped it from hitting record highs — albeit with plenty of volatility on the way.

The token's price soared from $10,000 in September 2020 to more than $65,000 in November 2021, then crashed to about $16,000 over the next year.

However, it rebounded above $70,000 last month and now trades around the $63,000 mark, giving it a market value of $1.2 trillion.

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• Sen. Elizabeth Warren led a letter urging Navient to cancel predatory private student loans.
• The letter cited the Holder Rule, which permits relief for borrowers with fraudulent loans.
• The lawmakers requested this relief happen before Navient outsources its servicing to MOHELA.

A major private student-loan company is leaving the servicing industry. But before that happens, a group of Democratic lawmakers want it to give some borrowers debt relief.

On Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren led eight of her Democratic colleagues in sending a letter — first reviewed by Business Insider — to Navient's CEO David Yowan, requesting that the company cancel "decades-old predatory private student loans" using a consumer protection law established by the Federal Trade Commission.

In January, Navient announced it would be outsourcing servicing of its private loans and commercially held loans in the Federal Family Education Loan program to MOHELA — one of the largest federal student loan servicers. This transition is expected to impact about 2.7 million borrowers, and the Democratic lawmakers wrote in their letter that "a large portion of these loans are eligible for cancellation."

That's because, the lawmakers wrote, some of those borrowers may have attended schools the Education Department later determined were fraudulent by misrepresenting their programs and pushing students to take on more debt than they could afford. While the Education Department has canceled federal student loans for some borrowers using a process known as the borrower defense to repayment, those who may have attended the same fraudulent schools but had private loans held by Navient did not get the same relief.

But there might be an avenue to still get those borrowers debt cancellation. Warren and her colleagues pointed to the Holder Rule — a consumer protection tool allowing the borrower "to cancel existing debt if a school fraudulently induced the student to enroll and had some relationship with the lender," per the Minnesota Attorney General's office.

Prior lawsuits have pointed to Navient's relationships with some for-profit schools. In 2022, Navient reached a $1.7 billion settlement with 39 states after being accused of working with for-profit schools to hand out private loans to students with high default rates. However, the settlement only included borrowers who were in default for at least seven consecutive months before June 2021. Navient did not admit any wrongdoing, and it has a process for borrowers to apply for relief. The group of lawmakers wants that process automated.

"Navient should stop making borrowers apply for relief and instead automatically cancel student debt using information the company already has about whether borrowers attended schools that would entitle them to relief," they wrote.

The lawmakers are requesting that this relief happen before Navient outsources its servicing to MOHELA. Additionally, they requested Yowan provide additional information by April 29, including the number of borrowers the company services who attended for-profit schools, how many borrowers have applied for relief using Navient's application, and how the company takes into account the Holder Rule.

While it's unclear how any debt cancellation would impact the transition of servicing responsibilities from Navient to MOHELA, Navient previously said in its announcement that the two companies would "work toward ensuring a seamless transition in the coming months and providing customers with uninterrupted servicing of their loans."

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• Runaway US debt levels at risks to global stability, the International Monetary Fund said in a report.
• Spiking Treasury yields are associated with exchange rate turbulence and higher interest rates elsewhere.
• The Congressional Budget Office projects debt-to-GDP levels to reach 116% by 2054.

Ballooning US debt will weigh on more than just Washington, as spiraling borrowing costs have the potential to distort the global economy, according to the International Monetary Fund.

In its latest Fiscal Monitor report, the fund expects US deficit to more than triple overspending levels in other advanced economies by 2025, projected to hit 7.1%.

"Loose fiscal policy in the United States exerts upward pressure on global interest rates and the dollar," Vitor Gaspar, director of the IMF's fiscal affairs department, said in a related press briefing. "It pushes up funding costs in the rest of the world, thereby exacerbating existing fragilities and risks."

Specifically, the report made reference to the impact that debt has on Treasury yields, as the government must increasingly offer higher returns in order to keep attracting buyers. 

But such large and sudden rate increases are often associated with exchange rate turbulence across global markets, while a 1 percentage point spike in US interest can lead to a ramp up in foreign long-term nominal rates.

Markets have already gotten a taste of debt-related yield jumps, after a US credit downgrade sent 10- and 30-year rates surging above 5% in October. 

The IMF didn't just raise flags on the US, but warned that China's deficit and debt levels were concerning: "How these two economies manage their fiscal policies could therefore have profound effects on the global economy and pose significant risks," the report warned.  

For its part, Washington has undergone "remarkably large fiscal slippages," the IMF said, referencing falling taxes and a doubling in government spending between 2022 and 2023, despite strong growth.

If this trend continues, the Congressional Budget Office expects US debt to reach 116% of GDP by 2054, where it currently equaled 97% in 2023. Some analysts have called this unsustainable, and a path towards national default.

Others have touted that solutions are straightforward, as long as political backing can be secured. That includes a bipartisan willingness to cut spending, as well as tax hikes across income levels. 

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• An employee of a UK grocery chain was fired for not paying for grocery bags at checkout.
• He reportedly took multiple bags which each cost less than $1.
• Many retailers have been rethinking their approach to self-checkouts after issues of theft. 

An employee of the UK grocery chain Sainsbury's, who had worked there for nearly 20 years, was fired after he didn't pay for plastic grocery bags at self-checkout, the BBC reported.

The employee reportedly purchased £30 ($37) of food, pillows, and bedding from the store after working the night shift.

When he went to pay at the self-checkout, he clicked "zero bags used" despite having used multiple bags. His employer saw the footage on CCTV and took this as grounds for his dismissal.

Sainsbury's charges between 30 pence ($0.37) and 65 pence ($0.80) for its plastic grocery bags after a law came into effect in the UK requiring customers to pay for these bags.

The case was brought to an employment tribunal where the employee said he was tired and made an unintentional mistake, per the BBC. But the judge ruled that Sainsbury's was within its right to fire him, finding that he "committed theft."

Retailers have been rethinking their approach to self-checkouts in recent years. The chains have realized they still need employees to help check receipts, combat theft, and assist with purchases.

Some US retailers have found that self-checkout lanes open them up to issues like theft. Walmart has removed self-checkout in some of its stores recently, as employees and customers complained of theft.

Costco has also been clamping down by asking customers to show their membership cards at the self-checkout and have staff assist with scanning items. Target has put in place 10-item limits for self-checkout at many of its stores and says it's also helping to speed up the shopping experience.

One UK supermarket chain, Booths, did away with them completely last year after customers found them too slow and impersonal, and some workers say they prefer it.

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• A woman in Brazil was arrested after seemingly trying to secure a bank loan using her dead uncle's signature.
• The woman appeared to bring her uncle's body to the bank in a wheelchair and tried to use it to sign papers.
• Bank staff became suspicious when the man was unresponsive and his head kept lolling, local media said.

A woman in Brazil was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of theft by fraud and violating a corpse after she brought her uncle to a bank to sign a loan agreement, local media outlets reported.

She had raised suspicion after she entered a small branch of Itaú Bank in a Rio suburb with a man in a wheelchair, who she called her uncle, local news organization O Dia reported, per a Business Insider translation.

The woman, named by local media as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes, reportedly told the clerk they were there to sign off on a 17,000 reais ($3,250) loan.

In security camera footage shared by O Dia, the woman can be seen picking up the man's hand and repositioning his head to try to get him to sign the document in front of him.

"Uncle, are you listening? You need to sign. If you don't sign, there's no way, because I can't sign for you," Nunes can be heard saying in the video.

"He doesn't say anything, that's just how he is," she tells the clerk when he doesn't reply. "If you're not okay, I'm going to take you to the hospital."

But the man's unresponsive nature and lolling head caused concern among bank employees who called the local ambulance services.

On arriving, the doctors confirmed that the 68-year-old man had been dead for several hours, O Dia reported.

His body was taken to a morgue, and Nunes was arrested on suspicion of attempted theft by fraud and violating a corpse.

The woman's lawyers argue that the man, Paulo Roberto Braga, died at the bank in his wheelchair and said they had witnesses who would testify at the appropriate time, Brazil's national newspaper Correio Braziliense reported.

A preliminary forensic analysis concluded that Braga had died between 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday from breathing difficulties and heart failure.

Nunes had arrived at the bank at 1:02 p.m, the report noted, according to Correio Braziliense.

An expert who signed the report said that there was not enough medical or technical evidence at this point to confirm whether Braga died on his way into or inside the bank or had already been dead.

However, the autopsy also indicated that he had likely died while lying down due to the position of blood clots in his neck.

The police were not ruling out the possibility that more people were involved.

Brazil's economic stagnation

Brazil's economy has stagnated in recent months, with growth flatlining in the final quarter of 2023 amid sky-high interest rates. The country, the largest economy in South America, currently has a rate of close to 11%.

"The stagnation in Brazil's GDP in the fourth quarter and the decline in household consumption confirmed that the economy lost momentum sharply," Capital Economics' chief emerging markets economist William Jackson said in a note in March, per Reuters.

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• Squatters have taken over the former headquarters of 20th Century Fox in central London.
• It's the latest example of squatters occupying buildings in the city, including a Gordon Ramsay restaurant.
• The building was vacated in 2019 after Disney acquired the company.

The former London headquarters of 20th Century Fox has been taken over by squatters, The Evening Standard reported.

It's the third high-profile London address taken over by squatters in recent weeks.

Last week, London's Metropolitan Police was made aware of a group occupying the site of a Gordon Ramsay Restaurant, the York & Albany, in Camden.

Police also recently cleared 400 squatters out of Marco Pierre White's shuttered restaurant in Leicester Square, The Telegraph reported.

Built in 1937, Twentieth Century House was vacated in 2019 after Disney bought parent company 21st Century Fox. It avoided demolition in 2020 after an outcry from the British film and music community, according to The Guardian.

The Evening Standard reported that in recent months builders were stripping out fixtures, but that squatters had now moved in.

The squatters have posted a legal notice on the imposing facade saying they can't be legally evicted without a court order, the outlet said.

There is growing anger around costs of living in major cities around the world, with many struggling to get by. While it is unclear the motive for this latest group, high-profile empty buildings are an obvious target for those angered at rising rents and real estate prices.

The high cost of rent was a focal point for the group that recently occupied the site of Gordon Ramsay's York & Albany restaurant in Camden — another borough with extremely high wealth inequality.

Part of that group, calling itself Camden Art Collective, briefly opened the premises to the public as a café, offering free food and art workshops in a gesture aimed at highlighting the area's massive wealth disparity.

On Wednesday, the collective posted a statement saying that they had left the building after being served a legal notice, but that they "wish those left in the building the best of luck in their endeavors," suggesting that some squatters remained inside.

Representatives for Ramsay did not respond to a request for comment, but appear to have been quietly working to evict the squatters.

In the UK, that's no easy feat, as legal experts told BI.

While squatting in residential property was made a criminal offense in 2012, doing the same thing in a commercial building is a civil matter, and property owners need to enter into a convoluted and often costly court process to get them out.

Locals have mixed feelings about the squatters in Twentieth Century House, the Evening Standard reported.

One neighboring officer worker said their presence was "a headache, a real worry," and added that they've had problems with urination and drug taking outside the building.

But others expressed support for anyone taking over an empty building in a city as famously expensive as London.

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• Nine people have been charged or sought in connection with a big gold heist last year.
• The gold theft at Toronto Pearson airport was the largest in Canadian history, police said.
• 20 kilograms of gold and cash were stolen from a plane after it arrived from Zurich.

An Air Canada worker and several others have been charged or sought in connection with a huge gold heist at Canada's busiest airport in April last year.

The thieves stole 20 kilograms of gold bars worth about C$20 million ($14.5 million) and C$2.5 million of foreign currency, Peel County Police said in a statement.

Authorities said the gold and cash were taken from a cargo plane from Zurich, Switzerland after it landed at Toronto Pearson International Aiport and then put into a suspect's truck.

The 6,600 gold bars and the foreign currency were supposed to go to a bank in Toronto before being stolen.

"This particular theft has become the largest gold theft in Canadian history," Peel Regional Chief Nishan Duraiappah said at a news conference held in front of the suspect's seized truck.

It's "one we jokingly say belongs in a Netflix series," he added.

The heist was organized by people both inside and outside the airport facilities, police said.

Peel police have identified and charged or issued warrants for nine individuals with more than 19 charges. 

Parmpal Sidhu, 54, an Air Canada employee, was charged with theft over $5000 and conspiracy to commit indictable offence.

An arrest warrant has been issued for Simran Preet Panesar, 31, a former Air Canada employee who was employed at the time of the theft. He gave the police a tour of the airport facility and later resigned from the airline, before being identified as a suspect.

Lead investigator Mike Mavity said the suspects "needed people inside Air Canada to facilitate this theft."

Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick told CBC that two suspects individuals worked for the airline's cargo division when the theft occurred.

"One left the company prior to the arrests announced today and the second has been suspended. As this is now before the courts, we are limited in our ability to comment further," he said.

Some of the stolen gold was melted down and used to buy illegal firearms, police said.

The Philadelphia Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives arrested a man in the United States who had 65 illegal firearms in his possession.

Canadian investigators also seized a kilogram of gold, smelting equipment, and cash worth about C$434,000.  

Gold can be transformed in different forms, making it harder to track down once it's been stolen. This makes the precious metal a prime target for criminal gangs.

Earlier this year, Hong Kong customs officials found $10 million of gold hidden inside machinery on a cargo flight bound for Japan. In another case, last year, an adtech sales representative attempted to steal gold bars valued at $9 million before being intercepted by the FBI.

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• The Netherlands' PM said his country could buy Patriots from other countries to give to Ukraine.
• Mark Rutte said some nations have the air-defense systems but may not want to give them directly.
• Ukraine desperately needs more air defenses as it runs low on supplies to stop Russian attacks.

One of Ukraine's main European allies said it could buy US-made Patriot air-defense systems from other countries to send on to Ukraine.

Mark Rutte, the prime minister of The Netherlands, one of Ukraine's biggest backers, said at an EU leaders summit on Thursday that his country could offer Ukraine more help to combat Russia's invasion, The Guardian reported.

"We know that many countries are sitting on large piles of Patriot systems, maybe not wanting to deliver it directly," he said, adding: "We can buy it from them, we can deliver it to Ukraine, we have the money available. It's crucial."

Ukraine is searching for more Patriot systems as it runs low on air defenses to stop Russian attacks.

Some of its allies have said they have none to spare, while some other countries have said they are reluctant to give the weapon to a country at war.

Rutte's comments came after remarks made by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who said on Wednesday that Ukraine's allies should help it with air defenses.

"If allies face a choice between meeting NATO capability targets and providing more aid to Ukraine, my message is clear: Send more to Ukraine," he said.

Rutte is the frontrunner to take over from the NATO chief later this year.

The US-made MIM-104 Patriot missile system is a ground-based, mobile surface-to-air missile battery. It can down aircraft, cruise missiles, and short-range and tactical ballistic missiles.

Ukraine has been successful at using the air-defense system to down Russian projectiles, helping to dispel earlier doubts about the Patriot's capabilities.

Ukraine has between three and five Patriots. Neither Ukraine nor its allies share the exact number or exactly where they are deployed.

But Ukraine is running critically low on air defense supplies, giving Russia's missile and drone attacks — which have destroyed energy infrastructure, hit residential buildings, and killed civilians — more chance of success.

Experts have previously warned BI that Ukraine's air defenses running low could allow Russia's air force to fly unthreatened, potentially causing so much damage that it would quickly end the war.

Germany announced over the weekend that it would give Ukraine another Patriot system. But Ukraine says its needs are much greater.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that Ukraine needs 25 Patriot systems with between six and eight batteries each to protect the country fully.

Ukraine's foreign minister said they've identified more than 100 Patriot systems that allies could spare, and said Ukraine is focused on trying to get seven as soon as possible.

He said he "struggles to understand" some allies' resistance to giving Ukraine at least one of their Patriot systems.

Ukraine's shortages, which also include ammunition and other weaponry, have been exacerbated by Republicans in the US stalling on billions in further aid over the past six months.

Stoltenberg, the NATO chief, on Wednesday called the US "the ally with the most Patriot batteries" and said it has "global responsibilities."

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• Bernard Arnault is the world's richest man. He has a net worth of $221 billion, per Bloomberg. 
• He controls the massive luxury conglomerate LVMH, and his children all hold roles in the business. 
• On Thursday, two of his sons joined LVMH's board. Meaning that four out of five of his children now sit on the board.

No name is perhaps more synonymous with the world of luxury goods than Bernard Arnault. 

Arnault, the 75-year-old CEO of French luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, or just LVMH for short, built his fortune over almost four decades, amassing a luxury-goods empire that includes some of the best-known brands in fashion, jewelry, and alcohol, including Louis Vuitton, TAG Heuer, and Dom Pérignon.

In March, he reclaimed the title of the world's richest person, and currently has a net worth of about $221 billion, according to Bloomberg. He, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have traded places on and off over the past year. 

Along the way to the top, Arnault has brought his five adult children into the fold, building a family-run business that has resulted in immense wealth and even drawn comparisons to the hit HBO show Succession (which Arnault has dismissed).

On Thursday, Arnault announced that two of his sons — Alexandre, a VP at Tiffany, and Frédéric, head of LVMH's watches division — are joining LVMH's board. This means four of his five children have places on the board.

This decision will likely spark renewed speculation about which of Arnault's children might one day take over the running of the business. 

Here's a closer look at how Arnault and his family rose to the top: 

The 75-year-old French businessman is the chairman and CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy — Louis Vuitton, known as LVMH.

Arnault owns a 48% stake in LVMH, according to Bloomberg. 

Arnault comes from the northern French town of Roubaix.

He studied engineering at one of France's most prestigious schools, the École Polytechnique, and after graduating, he went to work for his father's construction company, Ferret-Savinel, according to Bloomberg. 

 

In 1984, Arnault acquired an ailing company called Agache-Willot-Boussac.

Agache-Willot-Boussac owned brands like French department store Bon Marché and the fashion house Christian Dior, according to The New York Times. He renamed the firm Financière Agache and initiated a turnaround, cutting costs and selling off some of its businesses, the Times reported. 

The moves helped the company earn an additional $112 million on revenue of $1.9 billion just a few years later.

In 1987, he bought the fashion house Celine and funded the French designer Christian Lacroix, according to The New York Times. 

 

In the late 1980s, Arnault said his goal was to run the world's largest luxury company within the following decade.

He then set his sights on LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, spending $2.6 billion buying up shares in order to become the company's largest shareholder, and eventually its chairman and CEO, by 1989, according to The New York Times.

Arnault married Anne Dewavrin in 1973.

The couple had two children, and during their marriage, Arnault moved the family to the United States for a couple of years in "open reaction to the rise of the French Socialists and their determination to tax the rich," according to France24.

He and Dewavrin separated in 1990, according to the Financial Times.

Arnault then married concert pianist, Hélène Mercier, in 1991.

Arnault reportedly wooed her by playing Chopin and other classical composers for her, according to Forbes.

 

Like many of his fellow billionaires, Arnault lives a lavish life.

He traveled by a $73 million private jet until 2022, selling it after Twitter accounts began tracking the aircraft. He owns properties in glitzy Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera. In 2023, he bought $22 million worth of property in the Hamptons, according to the Observer. 

 

The French billionaire and his wife live on Paris's Left Bank, south of the Seine River, a historic area that includes neighborhoods such as the Latin Quarter and St. Germain-des-Prés.

He also has an impressive art collection of both modern and contemporary paintings that includes pieces by artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Damien Hirst, Maurizio Cattelan, Andy Warhol, and Pablo Picasso, according to Bloomberg. 

 

 

Arnault has five children: two with his first wife and three with his current wife.

Antoine and Delphine Arnault are his two children from his first marriage, while his youngest three — Alexandre, Frédéric, and Jean — are from his second marriage to Mercier, according to The New York Times. 

 

Delphine, Arnault's oldest daughter, has established herself as a central figure in the LVMH empire.

She started her career at the American consultancy firm McKinsey & Co. in Paris and was the executive vice president at Louis Vuitton, according to Business of Fashion. In January 2019, Delphine became the youngest member of LVMH's executive committee at age 43, according to mds. Delphine became CEO and chair of Christian Dior Couture in 2023.

Delphine married Italian wine heir Alessandro Vallarino Gancia in 2005 in what Forbes called at the time "France's wedding of the year."

The couple divorced in 2010. She now reportedly lives with tech billionaire Xavier Niel and has two children.

Delphine is notoriously private about her personal life. In a 2014 interview with the Financial Times, she said, "I'm quite discreet. I think I'd rather focus on my work."

 

Delphine's younger brother Antoine is CEO of Christian Dior SE, the holding company of LVMH, a role he was appointed to in December 2022.

He was CEO of luxury shoemaker Berluti for several years but now serves as both chairman of that brand and cashmere label Loro Piana. Antoine has also been a board member of LVMH since 2006. 

Antoine is married to supermodel Natalia Vodianova, whom he reportedly met on a shoot for a 2008 Louis ­Vuitton campaign when he was the brand's head of communications.

The couple lives in Paris with their two children, and Vodianova's three children from a previous marriage, according to W Magazine. 

 

Alexandre, the son of Bernard Arnault and Mercier, became an executive VP at Tiffany & Co. after LVMH bought the jewelry brand.

LVMH acquired Tiffany & Co. in 2021, after which Alexandre became the company's executive vice president of product and communications. Prior to moving over to Tiffany, Alexandre was the CEO of Rimowa, a German luggage brand owned by LVMH.

Alexandre is longtime friends with Evan Spiegel, the chief executive of Snap. Spiegel told The New York Times that Alexandre is "a really creative guy" and that "he's constantly thinking about the brand and how to express that."

 

Alexandre's younger brother Frédéric is CEO of LVMH Watches.

After internships at Facebook, McKinsey, and a stint running a mobile payments startup, Frédéric became the temporary head of connected technologies at TAG Heuer, LVMH's largest watch brand, in 2017. By 2020, when Frédéric was just 25, he was named TAG Heuer's CEO. 

In 2024, he was appointed CEO of LVMH Watches, overseeing Hublot, Tag Heuer, and Zenith.

Arnault's youngest son, Jean, joined the family business in 2021.

In August 2021, Jean Arnault became marketing and product director in Louis Vuitton's watch division; he was just 23 at the time. He's since become a watch director at the brand. 

Jean Arnault has a master's degree in financial mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a master's in mechanical engineering from Imperial College London. According to his LinkedIn profile, he interned at Morgan Stanley and McLaren Racing and worked in a Louis Vuitton retail store before joining the company full-time. 

Arnault met then President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York City, right before Trump's inauguration in 2017, to discuss expanding LVMH factories in the US.

The company opened a new 100,000-square-foot Louis Vuitton factory in Texas in 2019 and Trump attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony. 

Arnault told reporters at the ribbon-cutting ceremony that he was honored to have the president in attendance and noted that the two have known each other since the 1980s.

Former Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein once said Arnault's skill is in realizing the demand for high-end luxury products around the world.

"I am so far from appreciating luxury items, let alone the demand for luxury items, but he was a complete visionary," Blankfein said of Arnault, according to CNBC. 

 

 

Arnault is reportedly longtime friends with former French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

He was a witness at Sarkozy's wedding to singer and model Carla Bruni, according to The New York Times. 

Arnault can be seen shaking hands with Vladimir Putin during the Russian president's 2003 visit to the Château Cheval Blanc vineyard in France, which LVMH owns.

The 39-hectare vineyard is located in France's winemaking region of Bordeaux, according to LVMH's website. 

Arnault considered the legendary designer and Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld a good friend.

In a statement upon Lagerfeld's death in 2019 posted to LVMH's website, Arnault said, "The death of this dear friend deeply saddens me, my wife and my children." He also said, "We loved and admired him deeply. Fashion and culture have lost a great inspiration."

But Arnault also has a longstanding public rivalry with François Pinault, the founder of luxury group Kering, who's worth about $30 billion.

Kering owns brands including Gucci and Yves St. Laurent, and the billionaire also owns Christie's auction house, according to Bloomberg. LVMH originally tried to acquire a majority stake in Gucci in 1999, but Pinault ultimately snatched up the brand, according to Forbes. 

 

 

Over the years, Arnault has built LVMH into the largest luxury conglomerate in the world and earned himself an imposing nickname: "the wolf in the cashmere coat."

And he's confident in the luxury empire he's built, once telling the late Steve Jobs that demand for luxury goods like champagne may even outlast the almost $3 trillion dollar tech brand.  

He previously told The New York Times, "Steve Jobs once asked me for some advice about retail, but I said, 'I am not sure at all we are in the same business.' I don't know if we will still use Apple products in 25 years, but I am sure we will still be drinking Dom Pérignon."

He's behind the creation of Foundation Louis Vuitton.

The Frank Gehry-designed contemporary art museum and performance space in Paris opened in 2014, according to The New York Times.  

In April 2019, LVMH released a statement on behalf of the Arnault family, pledging 200 million euros, or about $226 million at the time, to help rebuild the Notre-Dame Cathedral, which was heavily damaged in a 2019 fire.

Arnault was not the only one among France's super rich that pledged funds toward rebuilding the historic structure. Others included his rival, Kering founder François-Henri Pinault, who pledged about $113 million, and L'Oreal owners the Bettencourt Meyers family, who pledged about $226 million. 

 

In October 2020, Arnault's company agreed to buy Tiffany & Co. for $15.8 billion in the luxury sector's biggest-ever deal.

The contentious sale involved multiple lawsuits and a $400 million price drop from the price originally agreed upon the previous year. 

When it comes to finances, the past few years have been a roller-coaster ride for Arnault and LVMH.

In January 2019, Arnault made $4.3 billion in a single day after LVMH shares surged 6.9%, according to Bloomberg.

Just six months later, on June 19, 2019, Arnault again made news when he became the third person in the world to reach a $100 billion net worth. 

Then, the coronavirus pandemic hit, and pandemic-related shutdowns sank LVMH's stock, sending Arnault's personal net worth down more than $30 billion by May 2020, according to Bloomberg. 

As the world opened up again, though, LVMH's stock recovered, thanks to strong sales in fashion and leather goods and an uptick in alcohol sales, particularly Champagne. 

At the tail end of 2022, Arnault dethroned Elon Musk, and claimed the top spot as the richest man in the world.

In April 2023, his net worth even surpassed the $200 billion mark making him the third person ever, behind Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, to do so.

He's currently the world's richest person. He, Bezos, and Musk have traded places on and off over the past year. 

 

In April 2023, LVMH's headquarters in Paris were briefly stormed by protesters who were opposed to the French government's proposal to raise the country's retirement age from 62 to 64.

On the same day, Arnault's fortune increased by $12 billion.

 

Arnault reportedly meets with his five children for a monthly lunch in the private dining room at LVMH to instruct them on the company's strategy and manager performance.

And much like the HBO series "Succession," there has been considerable speculation about which of Arnault's children will eventually take over the LVMH empire. Arnault, however, said he's taught his kids to prize the company over personal disagreements from a young age. "For now, they all get on great," he previously said.

Arnault has been pretty vague about who will eventually take the reins of the company.

"The best person inside the family or outside the family should be one day my successor," he's previously said. "But it's not something that I hope is a duel for the near future."

And he's also brushed off comparisons to a Succession-style battle between his children for control of LVMH. The New York Times reported that "he hates this talk, and takes pains to play down parallels to the show."

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