François Pinault
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François Pinault (born 1937) runs the retail company PPR. He lives in France and is married with four children. He is a friend of French President Jacques Chirac. His holding company Artemis S.A., owns (or owned), among others, Converse sneakers, Samsonite luggage, the Vail Ski Resort in Colorado, and the Christie's auctioneer. Artemis also owns Executive Life (now Aurora Life) in California, which was sued by policy holders when the company failed [1][2][3].
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[edit] Gucci deal
Pinault led PPR through a long battle over control of Gucci, the Italian fashion company, which began with an attempted takeover of Gucci by LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods company. In March of 1999, Gucci asked PPR to acquire an ownership interest in Gucci to help fend off LVMH. The result was a struggle between the two richest men in France, both self-made billionaires — Pinault and Bernard Arnault, the Chairman of LVMH.
The dispute end in September 2001, when LVMH agreed to sell its shares in Gucci to PPR for $94 a share. As part of the agreement, PPR promised to make a tender offer for the balance of the publicly traded shares at a later date. It completed that buy-in in July 2004 and took full control of Gucci.
[edit] Auction house scandal
In 1998 Pinault purchased a majority share of Christie's auction house. In February 2000, A. Alfred Taubman, majority shareholder of rival company Sotheby's stepped down amidst a scandal after the Federal Bureau of Investigation had investigated commission-fixing between the two companies. Pinault was not implicated, but rather it was his actions which precipitated the scandal. He fired Christie's CEO Christopher Davidge over an allegation of extravagant spending. Davidge then admitted to Artemis' CEO Patricia Barbizet about the collusion, which had gone on since about 1995. In October 2000, Sotheby's CEO, Diana Brooks admitted her guilt in hopes of receiving a reduced sentence, and implicated Taubman. In December 2001, jurors in a high profile New York City courtroom found Taubman guilty of conspiracy. He served a year and a day in prison and Mrs. Brooks got 3 months of home confinement and a penalty of $350,000. International law permitted Christie's to avoid prosecution (other than civil penalties)[4].
