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Alexandre Arnault’s two-year test to revive Moët Hennessy
Alexandre Arnault has stepped into the fray, tasked with reviving Moët Hennessy during financial decline. With his father’s retirement looming in 2029, he has two years to prove himself in the LVMH succession battle.
Arnault, one of five children by LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault, is embroiled in a beauty contest with his siblings to take over the reins when his father’s scheduled retirement comes up in 2029.
Alexandre, 32, this week moved into Moët Hennessy, LVMH‘s $6 billion wine and spirits business at a turbulent moment.
Its revenues have fallen substantially over the past two years and the group’s latest figures showed its operating profit plunging by more than a third in 2024 as demand for Cognac and Champagne slumped.
‘Give us 100 days’
In an interview with Reuters, he said: “Give us 100 days to wrap our heads around it and understand the business … because it’s a business that will need a lot of restructuring.”
Amid speculation that Arnault Senior might be planning major changes, the CEO said: “I’m sure they’ll get everything back on the growth track. Let’s give them two years to show what they can do.”
However, Bernard Arnault did say that he had no intention of selling Moët Hennessy despite being the weakest performing division, accounting for less than 10% of LVMH revenues. Shedding parts of the struggling business was “not on the agenda”, he said.
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Alexandre took over as deputy CEO of the alcohol division this week where the group’s long-serving finance chief Jean-Jacques Guiony joined him as chairman to oversee the planned turnaround.
External headwinds
Alexandre faces a daunting task. Not only have Cognac sales slumped despite Moët Hennessy’s vigorous discounting in the US to protect its market share, but also there is the prospect of it becoming embroiled in President Donald Trump’s tariff wars.
Trump has threatened to slap imposts on goods entering America from the European Union, a prospect that seems increasingly likely, especially as Brussels has promised to retaliate.
In addition, the effect of sanctions on Cognac imposed by Beijing will only be heightened if Trump’s newly imposed tariffs on China add to an economic slowdown there.
On the plus side trade data shows LVMH’s cognac business increased deliveries to the U.S. in December as distributors built up inventories.
Arnault Pere and his family have built close ties to Trump, several of them taking prime seats at his inauguration last month.
Praising a “wind of optimism” in the United States, he said last week that LVMH was looking at raising production capacity there.
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