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LVMH is considering selling a slew of brands in what would be a major shake-up as the luxury industry battles weaker demand.
French billionaire Bernard Arnault has reportedly hung a 'for sale' sign over brands including fashion label Marc Jacobs and its 50 per cent stake in singer Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty business.
Other names that could be sold include Californian winemaker Joseph Phelps Vineyards and Eminente rum.
The luxury giant, whose brands include Moet, Givenchy and Louis Vuitton, had been hoping for a revival across its fashion, beauty and drinks brands this year after a sales downturn.
The business has suffered after a post-pandemic 'revenge' spending boom cooled off as a consumer squeeze felt across major economies - notably big luxury markets the US and China - started to impact even the most wealthy of shoppers.
And hopes of a rebound were dashed last month when the group said sales had been hit by the war in Iran after travel disruption to shopping hubs in the Gulf.
Rihanna's cosmetics brand Fenty is reportedly one of the brands that may be sold.
Future sales would add to LVMH’s recent divestments including its 49 per cent stake in British fashion label Stella McCartney and Off-White, the luxury brand founded by Virgil Abloh.
Potential deals could raise billions of pounds for the group, which is also considering whether to bid for a minority stake in Armani following the death of its founder Giorgio Armani.
LVMH is considering selling its 50 per cent stake in Fenty Beauty, which it helped launch with singer Rihanna in 2017, according to the report in The Financial Times.
Sources previously said that the make-up business could be worth as much as £1.5billion, when it was first reported as potentially up for sale in November last year.
And LVMH may also sell Make Up Forever, one of the more affordable brands that it has owned since 1999, as well as skin care and body care group Fresh.
Arnault, who has earned the sobriquet 'the wolf in cashmere' during his decades at the top, built LVMH through acquisitions including paying £12billion for jeweller Tiffany in 2019.
The empire-building began when he convinced his father's construction company to acquire a textiles business shortly after his graduation from a prestigious Parisian university.
He soon showed his ruthless streak, approving 9,000 job cuts after buying the company behind the Christian Dior brand in 1984.
He is now worth $153billion (£113billion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index - although his worth has dropped in recent years since the luxury slowdown began to bite.
In its quarterly update last month, LVMH said the conflict in the Middle East shaved around 1 per cent off sales growth in the three months to the end of March. Sales rose 1 per cent to £16.53billion – missing analyst forecasts for a 1.5 per cent increase.
Sales at its fashion and leather goods division, the biggest part of the business and home to brands such as Dior, fell 2 per cent to just over £8billion.
LVMH said its business in the Middle East has been disrupted after ‘a very positive start to the year’.
But it said there were signs that new stores in China are paying off. It said there was ‘strong growth’ in its Asia region, which includes China, and that a new flagship Louis Vuitton store in Beijing has had an ‘excellent performance’.
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