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- Bernard Arnault is the billionaire behind LVMH and was recently crowned the world's richest man.
- Arnault has five children who all work for different areas of the company.
- Arnault reportedly hosts a monthly private lunch with his five children to discuss strategy, per WSJ.
Bernard Arnault — the world's richest man and the CEO of luxury behemoth LVMH — reportedly calls his five children into a monthly lunch at the private dining room in the company's global headquarters in Paris.
The purpose of the exactly 90-minute-long lunch is to drill his offspring on company strategy and manager performance across LVMH's more than 70 brands – unnamed sources familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.
There has been much speculation as to which sibling is in the best position to take over from 74-year-old Arnault in the future — a family dynamic that draws strong parallels to HBO smash hit "Succession."
While all five children have roles across the LVMH brands, his eldest and only daughter, Delphine, was seen as the frontrunner by industry insiders after becoming CEO of Dior in January.
However, Sidney Toledano, the CEO of LVMH's fashion arm told The Journal that there is no guarantee that any of his children will succeed him.
"At no moment did he [Bernard Arnault] tell me, 'I must prepare my children for my succession," Toledano told The Journal.
But Arnault doesn't need to keep himself up at night worrying about sibling rivalry. Toledano told The Journal that Arnault taught kids to prize the company over personal disagreements from a young age.
"For now, they all get on great," he said.
Still, Arnault is keeping a close eye on his children's development at the company. Toledano and Michael Burke, the former chief of LVMH's biggest brand, Louis Vuitton, have both played a part in mentoring his children, according to The Journal.
Toledano was often asked to evaluate their character traits and "there's a need for a little correction," he told The Journal.
Arnault overtook Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to become the world's richest person this year. He is currently worth over $208 billion. The majority of his wealth derives from a 97.5% stake in Christian Dior's holding company, which controls 41.4% of LVMH — which owns fashion brands including Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., and TAG Heuer