Économie et social Investigation

Bernard Arnault: how the world's richest man bought Paris

Bernard Arnault has got his hands on the French capital. On top of the 200 or so LVMH addresses counted by Mediapart in the city, the luxury goods multinational run by the billionaire is quietly appropriating symbolic locations for itself, with the approval of city hall. This Mediapart investigation into the group's raid on Paris has been carried out by Dan Israel, Martine Orange, Khedidja Zerouali and Florence Loève.

Dan Israel, Martine Orange, Khedidja Zerouali and Florence Loève

One would not have instinctively thought of casting Bernard Arnault in the role of Eugène de Rastignac. Yet the communications strategy of the LVMH luxury goods group during the run-up to the Olympic Games this summer has summoned up the image of that small-town provincial who made it to Paris, as so memorably evoked by novelist Honoré de Balzac.

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