François Louis Nicolas Pinault, the 26-year-old grandson of François Pinault, replaced the Kering founder as director on the board of the auctioneer of Christie’s on March 26, the Financial Times reported. This is the first indication of a family succession plan behind the luxury group.
Founded in 1766, the London–based auction house was purchased by Artémis, the Pinault family’s holding company, in 1998.
François Louis Nicolas Pinault is a product marketing manager with Kering, which owns fashion brands Gucci and Saint Laurent. It has been headed by his sixty-one-year-old father François-Henri Pinault, whose eighty-seven-year-old father stepped back in 2003. François-Henri’s siblings are on the supervisory board at Artémis.
The Pinault family is one of France’s wealthiest and most prominent due to Kering’s success, despite more recent declines in sales at Gucci.
François Louis Nicolas Pinault’s appointment comes at a crucial moment concerning the ascension of a new generation within family-controlled businesses in France.
Artémis also has investments in sports apparel brand Puma and Vineyards, as well as luxury fashion brands Courrèges and Giambattista Valli, in addition to technology firms. Artémis also bought a majority stake in the Hollywood talent agency Creative Artists Agency last year.
Last year, Christie’s reported €6.2 billion (roughly $6.7 million) in sales. Christie’s is far from the Pinault family’s largest investment, but it does give them, already prolific collectors, more influence in the art world. The family collection includes more than 10,000 pieces of contemporary works, and they have established several museums, such as the Bourse de Commerce in Paris and the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, to display the highlights.
