Sometimes it seems like LVMH owns everything. Everything important, that is. I mean, the full name of the company, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, says it all, doesn’t it. Well, now they’ve gone out and added Bulgari to their list of holdings. Yes, that’s right, luxury jeweler Bulgari is now an LMVH operation.
Analysts aren’t really sure what the acquisition means for either company. LVMH has come to be called, in recent years, the “Wal-Mart of luxury goods”. But, unlike Wal-mart, LVMH seems to be doing a great job of managing its many companies and keeping their quality up to par. Purportedly next on LVMH’s wish list is Hermes, the French luxury leather goods retailer. Hermes has, apparently, been quite stalwart in their resistance to LVMH. The CEO of Hermes recently said:
Hermes is not managed on financial principles .. it is managed on the principle of the artifact in the best possible finish with the finest raw materials, with creativity as strong as possible that make people come into our stores … If you give economic control to financiers, they will kill the economy because they want short-term results.