LVMH: the largest luxury conglomerate focuses on the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games
LVMH: the largest luxury conglomerate focuses on the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Paris, the cradle of luxury and the world capital of fashion, is also going to become the world capital of sports this year thanks to the celebration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. This event will have a premium partner, LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton), the largest conglomerate in the world dedicated to the sale of luxury items, with a turnover in 2022 of 79.2 billion euros and a profit of 14.1 billion euros.
Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH, explains the collaboration: “This unprecedented collaboration with the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games will contribute to heightening the appeal of France and Paris around the world. It was natural for LVMH and its maisons to be part of this exceptional international event. The values of passion, excellence, and inclusion that high-level sport defends are cultivated every day by our teams, motivated by an unwavering desire to push the limits. Sport is a huge source of inspiration for our maisons, which will connect creative excellence and sporting performance by bringing their savoir faire and bold innovation to this extraordinary celebration.”
LVMH is a group made up of 75 luxury houses and 5,600 stores. It employs more than 196,000 people around the world. Wines and spirits, fashion and leather goods, perfumes and cosmetics, watches and jewelry, and selective retailing, among others, are the activities of the entity. Château d’Yquem, Dom Pérignon, Ruinart, Moët & Chandon, Hennessy, Veuve Clicquot, and Krug are some of the 25 wine and spirit brands belonging to the group – a group which can boast its own winery –Domaine des Lambrays– founded in 1365. Fashion and leather goods are the strong point of the multinational, with brands such as Loewe, Moynat, Louis Vuitton, Berluti, Rimowa, Patou, Loro Piana, Fendi, Celine, Christian Dior, Emilio Pucci, Givenchy, Kenzo, and Marc Jacobs. The group’s 15 maisons for perfumes and cosmetics also have significant profits – in 2022, they did 7.7 billion euros in sales. Tiffany & Co. was the latest brand to join the portfolio of watches and jewelry – a category that also includes Chaumet, Tag Heuer, Zenith, Bulgari, Fred, Repossi, and Hublot. The group’s six selective retailing houses (which include cruise ships specialized in the sale of luxury products on the high seas) presented sales of 14.9 billion euros in 2022. LVMH is also the owner of several media outlets (Les Echos, Le Parisien, Connaissance des Arts, Investir, Radio Classique), of the high-end yacht shipyard Royal Van Lent, of the pasticceria italiana Cova, of Jardin d’Acclimatation (the first amusement park in France, founded by Napoleon III and located next to the magnificent Fondation Louis Vuitton), of the Cheval Blanc hotel chain, as well as Belmond (which includes hotels, restaurants, safari lodges, a fleet of boats, and the famous railway company Venice Simplon-Orient-Express).
The partnership with the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games will allow LVMH’s artisans to contribute their creativity and know-how to the organization of this celebration, turning it into an unforgettable experience that will rewrite the established codes.
Paris 2024 will entrust several essential tasks to LVMH artisans. Among them, the design of the Olympic and Paralympic medals. Emblems of the quest for victory and personal improvement, the medals are among the iconic symbols of the Olympic Games. Chaumet, a Parisian jewelry store founded in 1780, will apply its savoir faire to create the design of these pieces that symbolize the ultimate reward for athletes after years of sacrifice and commitment to their sport.
Moët Hennessy Wines and Spirits will provide their products as part of the hospitality programs during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, helping to ensure a quality experience for guests.
Sephora will work with the Olympic Torch Relay by proposing activities for the public along the entire route, as well as in establishments belonging to the group along the Relay’s itinerary.
The months before the opening ceremony, LVMH and its maisons (especially Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Berluti) will present the different aspects of their commitment (with the approval of Paris 2024). During the Games, the multinational will also provide direct support to some athletes who have had exemplary careers, such as fencer Enzo Lefort or swimmer Léon Marchand, who at 21 years of age has already won three world champion titles, is the world record holder in the 400 meters individual medley, and one of the main medal hopefuls for the French Olympic Team.
Finally, LVMH will expand its commitments to society by joining the charity organization Secours Populaire Français, supporting a very specific program to facilitate access to sport for 1,000 children and young people between the ages of 4 and 25 who live in vulnerable situations by financing membership in sports associations, training programs, and beginner’s classes.
Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 Olympic Committee, thanks the group for its contribution: “From the very outset of our project, we have wanted the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games to contribute to promoting the image of our country and France’s many remarkable talents. Today, with the LVMH Group, Paris 2024 has taken a decisive step forward. LVMH already supported us during our bid for the Summer Olympics and we are thrilled to have the Group with us 100% for this exciting adventure. With its exceptional know-how, the LVMH Group will bring its immensely creative talent to this project and enable us to benefit from its extensive experience. This partnership also sends a powerful signal that France’s leading businesses are behind the Paris 2024 Games, which will let our country shine brightly around the entire world. We want to thank the LVMH Group and its artisans for their confidence and their active engagement. Together we are going to make the Paris 2024 Games a truly exceptional experience.”
This partnership is the continuation of the active support that LVMH has been providing for many years to high-level sport and the most prestigious international competitions. From the creation of numerous trophies to the design of chests made specifically to store them in, the group’s maisons have been collaborating with the world of sport for a long time, covering a wide variety of disciplines from tennis, rugby, and basketball to football and motor racing. Now it’s the turn of the Olympics.
LVMH
Photographs: 1 Enzo Lefort by Nelson Rosier, 2 Galerie Dior by Alessandro Garafalo, 3 Chaumet Atelier.
