Every successful entrepreneur has his own “horse” - and Francois Pinault never changed his policy. We are talking about his business strategy, according to which he absorbs companies and ruthlessly changes the entire top composition of organizations.
Francois Pinault is a very influential person in the world of modern luxury business. His amazing business intuition and acumen helped him achieve such incredible heights, “thanks to” which he was nicknamed a pirate in his homeland.
- Full name: François Pinault.
- Date of Birth: 21.08.1936.
- Education: incomplete secondary school.
- Date of start of business/age: 1963, 27 years old.
- Type of activity at start: sale of wood in.
- Current activity: French entrepreneur, collector and philanthropist.
- Current net worth: $27 billion, according to Forbes as of 2020.
When we say “François Pinault,” we mean “an influential person in the world of contemporary art.” The French billionaire has incredible business acumen, and he is famous not only for his business projects, but also for his huge collection of paintings. The success story of François Pinault will reveal the veil of secrecy over this interesting personality in more detail.
The beginning of time
The record in the metric of the town of Le Chan-Gerault, which is located in the French province of Brittany, states that on August 21, 1936, a boy, François Pinault, was born into the family of a forester (the owner of a forestry farm of 10 hectares). Brief biographical information from the childhood of François Pinault: he grew up during the Nazi occupation and, as a very small child, very often carried food with his father to a group of allies. One day the family was caught by a fascist patrol - the father was severely beaten, but neither he nor little Francois revealed the secret.
Photo 1. Typical landscape of the native Brittany village of Pinault. Source: utmagazine.ru
After the end of the occupation, François became the only child from the village who went to study in the city of Rennes, at the College of Saint-Martin. However, he did not stay there for long - his classmates often laughed at the provincial boy who spoke with an accent and wore shabby clothes.
Already at the age of 15, Francois began working at his father’s sawmill and did not even intend to go to higher education. For what? After all, he never liked studying.
Having become successful, Pino boasted more than once: “The only document that speaks of my qualifications is my driver’s license.”
Labor path
Pinault also didn’t want to bother himself much with looking for work - for several years he did odd jobs in Paris and Brittany. This “attitude to life” was not liked by his relatives, who tried to get him a more or less permanent job. However, such messages only irritated our hero, who already knew that he had to rely only on himself.
It was not possible to get rich just by desires. Therefore, in 1956, Francois went to try his luck in Algeria, which at that time was a French colony.
No one can reliably answer the question of what Pino did in this country (they say that he sold weapons, but there is no evidence of this). But he returned from there completely different - a confident man (and even with the rank of non-commissioned officer). He had the long-awaited money with him, which allowed Francois, at the age of 27, to open his own company, Pinaultgroup (based on a small one). The organization engaged in the timber trade.
By the way, working with wood has its own nuances. The owner of a timber processing company can tell you more about this.
Meeting with Salma Hayek
Just a few years later, after Francois took over the family business, Pinault met actress Salma Hayek through former Gucci executive Mimma Viglesio, who acted as matchmaker. Although Hayek didn't initially know who she would see, she said, "What do you mean? I'm not going to meet some 70-year-old guy." Salma thought she had to go to meet his father.
Even after they met, Hayek had some doubts about Pinault. In an interview with NTD, Salma said that she doubted that Francois was her type of person. But as soon as they started talking to each other, they realized that they had a lot in common. They discussed their love for football and science.
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Salma said: “He was so smart, charming and funny, no one else could talk to me about the things that Francois and I discussed.” Salma Hayek claims that Pinault is the ideal man for her.
Small fish
This business dragged on for Francois Pinault for a long time. During this time, our hero acquired the necessary connections - for example, he not only made friends with the novice official Jacques Chirac, but also dissuaded him from traveling on a train, which was subsequently blown up by terrorists.
After this incident, Jacques Chirac seriously considered himself obliged to Pinault, and, obviously, it was this feeling that moved him to help his friend’s business.
The businessman has said more than once that intuition helps him. So in 1973, relying on it, he sold Pinaultgroup to English investors. The transaction amount was 30 million francs. Soon the stock market crashed, and Pinault bought the company back, but for 5 million francs.
It turns out that in that year the businessman earned more than in the previous five years.
A little later, in 1987, another successful transaction occurred. Pinault buys a 75% share of Chapelle Darblay (a paper manufacturer) and in 1990 sells it for a record amount of 525 million francs.
Christie's - Phillips
In 1998, Francois Pinault acquired the British auction house Christie's for €1.2 billion. A year later, Bernard Arnault bought the Phillips auction in hopes of destroying the long-term dictatorship of Christie's - Sotheby's. However, having suffered millions of dollars in losses associated with the collapse of the art market after September 11, 2001, Arnault sold Phillips in 2002. François Pinault takes personal part in the affairs of the auction, taking advantage of his connections and reputation. The latest sales of works from Rybolovlev's collection took place at Christie's. This auction house is trusted by the heirs of famous collections: Pierre Berger (collection of Yves Saint Laurent, the Rockefeller family (collection of David and Peggy Rockefeller). At the May 2020 auction of post-war and contemporary art, collectors François Pinault and Steven Cohen sold works worth $448 million. Businessmen - favorite clients of art dealer Larry Gagosian, owner of 15 galleries around the world. Gagosian, a gray-haired man with a smarmy expression, is in the front row of guests at Francois Pinault's reception at the Venice Biennale and at the latest opening at the Louis Vuitton Foundation. Gagosian uses Andy Warhol's motto, who argued that good business is the best art.
Desire to get rich
Fast forward to 1988, when Pinault was already an average (and, importantly, quite respected) businessman and had a family and four children. It was this year that he had the opportunity to get very rich - and he did not miss it. True, this happened to the detriment of its respectability.
Photo 2. Pino was not afraid to get rich, even after losing his authority. Source: hintmag.com
It happened like this: at the end of 1989, Paul Paoli, chairman of the board of directors of the Franco-African Trade Union (CFAO), made an offer to Pinault to take part in the capitalization of the company. The initial share was 20%, but the business idea took off very quickly. So much so that Acquisition also joined Pinaultgroup. The new owner immediately fired the entire old management team (including Paoli), and continued the business of the trade union itself (supplying electrical equipment to Africa).
And in 1988, Pinault brought the company to IPO through the Paris Exchange. Thus, he “wins bingo”: he receives new funds and opens up the retail sector.
He started out as a salesman in Africa
When Pinault left California and went back to France to work in his father's business, he was not allowed to simply run the company's affairs from the office. Instead, his father wanted his son to prove that he was worthy of taking over the family business. This meant a long 13-year training. Although Pino runs the show these days, he started out as a salesman. He spent most of his time not in France, but in Africa, where he sold building materials and pharmaceutical equipment.
During the sales period, Pino became increasingly interested in the technical side of the business. In the late 90s, he developed a website selling books and electronics called FNAC. His additional business, according to experts, could become even more profitable than Amazon in France.
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The era of hostile mergers
Pino liked this policy, so he gladly used any chance to get rich through connections with officials. Such an opportunity arose in 1991, when the French state bank decided to purchase an American insurance company (ExecutiveLife). This was prevented by the US laws themselves, which do not allow banking structures to buy more than 25% of shares. Intermediaries “came to the rescue”, among whom was Pinov’s Artemis.
The gratitude of the state bank knew no bounds - intermediaries were allowed to sell all securities on the balance sheet of the acquired insurance organization. Francois managed to earn at least $1 billion from this (start-up capital for his new empire).
The American authorities finally found out about these frauds. But the fine that Pinault was ordered to pay amounted to only $185 million (about a tenth of all he earned). His influential friend Jacques Chirac also came to the defense of the French entrepreneur.
Money to work
Pino wisely managed the billions he earned, putting them into business - we are talking about the purchase of a large retail chain Conforama. In 1992, another landmark acquisition took place - this time the Parisian department store Printemps. In 1994, François Pinault’s business was replenished with another retail “web”: LaRedoute and FNA, a network of book and music stores (the amount of the latter transaction was equal to 450 million euros). The name of the group also changed, which now sounded like Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR).
In 1993, he added the wine segment to the game, purchasing one of the most famous French vineyards, Chateau Latour, for $131 million (the true nationality of the Frenchman is reflected). At that time, production volumes amounted to 1000 bottles of Bordeaux annually.
Photo 3. Wine from Chateau Latour. Source: utmagazine.ru
But this was not enough for Pino - the following were added to the list of his acquisitions and takeovers:
- Orcanta (hosiery factory);
- SCOA (pharmaceutical trading company);
- Ellos (a Scandinavian parcel trade association);
- Guilbert and Niceday (office equipment sales).
In each new acquired enterprise, Pino mercilessly fired the entire top management team, for which he received the nickname “octopus.” PPR has also been characterized. The owner himself proudly countered these arguments with the following statement: “My competitors will either die themselves, or I will eat them.”
Passion for art
When Francois Pinault had money, he suddenly felt a craving for high art - this was especially clearly expressed in the creation of a collection of art objects. Collecting began with the purchase of a painting by PieMondrien in 1990 for $8 million.
As a child, Pino did not have the opportunity to contemplate objects of art: “Yes, I saw something in churches, but until I was 30 I wasn’t even in a museum,” the businessman recalled.
Gradually, such acquisitions turned into a real hobby. When Pinault wasn't making money, he attended exhibitions and met with art experts.
Photo 4. Pino with an exhibit from his museum Punta dellaDogana. Source: im6.kommersant.ru
Today, his personal collection contains approximately 2,000 works by world-famous artists (including Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Pieta Mondrian and others). The entire collection is exhibited in the Palazzo Grassi (Venice) - the building was converted into a museum in 2006 with the help of the Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The collector opened another museum, Punta dellaDogana, in 2009 in the former customs building.
The businessman himself admitted in an interview with Forbes in 2007 that the cost of all exhibits was $2 billion.
Second wife and first great love
Salma Hayek is well known to our viewers from the once sensational films “The Faculty”, “Bandits”, “From Dusk Till Dawn”. She started out as an actress in her homeland of Mexico, then went to conquer Hollywood, where she achieved considerable success. Only in her personal life she had victories without success. In 2006, she met Francois-Henri Pinault and at first considered their relationship to be her next romance. But the incredible happened: Salma, at the age of 40, became pregnant, and her boyfriend was happy about it. The actress had already begun to think about a family nest, but then scandals broke out with Linda Evangelista, although Pino begged his former passion to take pity on Salma, who was having a very difficult time with her late pregnancy. In 2007, the long-awaited daughter Valentina Paloma was finally born, and in 2008 the couple separated.
Business in the art market
The businessman liked to “watch out” for happy occasions - one of these presented itself in 1998, when he bought the Christie's auction house. For the uninformed: it is Christie's, together with Sotheby's, that controls about 90% of transactions with art objects. And for the first time, a non-British person was among this “elite”.
But even after entering this 222-year-old business, Francois did not change his own principles. The first thing he did was rebuild the headquarters of the auction house, turning it into a hotel with boutiques. Then the language of the meeting became French. And, of course, he arranged the total dismissal of the entire top management (except for the president, Lord Hindlip).
Photo 5. Pino is always ready for new business battles. Source: rupo.ru
Another huge scandal is associated with the purchase of Christie's: we are talking about the previous work of the auction house, whose managers, together with Sotheby's, agreed on the size of their clients' commissions. Francois not only did not do this, but also “surrendered” his competitor to the authorities. The court fined Sotheby's executives $45 million, and Christie's was “released in peace” for promoting justice.
Francois Pinault
My competitors will either die themselves or I will eat them
Italian police last week accused the famous auction house Christie's of selling stolen paintings. The sale of a painting by the 16th century Florentine master Mirabello Cavalori, missing in Rome, was scheduled for January 26. The auction house put it up under the guise of a painting by another artist. This scandal was just another link in the high-profile biography of Christie's owner Francois Pinault. This Frenchman, born into the family of a forester, has in recent years bought up almost the entire luxury industry in France. Using the dirtiest methods of doing business, Pinault managed to establish his own rules in both the Italian Gucci Group and the English auction house Christie's, forcing even the staff to speak French. And François Pinault is proud of two things: the fact that he has no education, and the fact that French President Jacques Chirac owes his life to him.
Algeria's dark past
French tycoon Francois Pinault decided to hold the wedding of his eldest son Francois-Henri at his country estate. Located in the forest of Rambouillet, the aristocratic 17th-century mansion is furnished with bourgeois luxury. This is not just a house, but a storage facility for the elder Pinault’s collection of works of art, which is worth much more than the estate itself. When it came to the feast, each of the 600 guests sat on a pillow on which the initials of the newlyweds were embroidered. Even French President Jacques Chirac and his wife flew in by helicopter to congratulate the young Pinaults.
“I’m happy,” remarked the host of the celebration, one of the richest people in Europe, whose life did not begin in luxury.
Francois Pinault was born in the French province of Brittany in 1936. His father was a forester and had difficulty making ends meet. Francois was left to his own devices and liked to do only those things that promised him immediate benefit. And studying was clearly not one of those things. After graduating from school with difficulty, Francois did not even think about studying anywhere else.
A working career did not appeal to him. For several years, Pino did odd jobs in Brittany and Paris, and during this time he managed to quarrel with all his relatives, who vying with each other to give him advice on how to organize his life. The only thing he learned from their sermons was the confidence that in any matter one must rely only on oneself. Having become rich, Pinault liked to boast that he had only one document indicating his qualifications - a driver's license. But then he had no time to laugh. Desperate to get rich in France, Francois goes to Algeria, which was then a French colony.
What the future billionaire did for three years in an Arab country engulfed in a war of liberation is shrouded in mystery. Enemies talked about arms and drug trafficking, but there is no official evidence of this. One way or another, Pino returned from Algeria with money. This was a completely different person - self-confident and knowing exactly what to do. At the age of 27, he founded his own company, the Pinault group, and became involved in the timber trade.
Jacques Chirac owes his life to him
For many years, Pino traded timber and acquired useful connections. For example, he became friends with the novice official Jacques Chirac. In 1973, Pinault decided to test his intuition. Shortly before the stock market crash, he sold the Pinault group for 30 million francs to investors from the UK. And he bought it back less than a year later for 5 million. He earned more in a year than in the previous five years. He liked this game. But then the prudent businessman defeated the gambler in his soul. Pino lay low again, waiting for an opportunity to profit.
Luck was not long in coming again. In 1976, he advised Jacques Chirac not to travel on a train in which terrorists would detonate a bomb. After this, the future president of the French Republic considered himself indebted to Pinault for his life. Perhaps, not without the help of a successful official, the timber trade quickly took off.
In 1988, 52-year-old Pinault had transformed himself from a young adventurer into a respected middle-class businessman with a devoted wife and four children. It was then that the “demon hit him in the ribs.” Pino decided to spit on respectability and fulfill his old dream - to become a very rich man.
Hostile takeovers
At the end of 1989, the chairman of the board of directors of the CFAO (Franco-African Trade Union), Paul Paoli, invited Pinault to participate in the capital. Starting with a 20% stake, Pino added Acquisition to his group within a few months. The old directors, starting with Paoli, were immediately fired, and the Pinault group continued the business of the trade union - supplying electrical equipment to Africa.
Pino liked this hostile takeover. In addition, at this moment the opportunity presented itself to profit from his connections with government officials. In 1991, the state bank Credit Lyonnais decided to buy the American insurance company Executive Life. Only US laws prohibited banks from buying more than 25% of the shares of insurers. Then Credit Lyonnais attracted several French intermediary firms for the transaction, including Artemis owned by Pinault, and bought Executive Life through them. The State Bank’s gratitude for its help literally knew no bounds. Intermediaries received the right to sell all securities on the balance sheet of the insurance company. According to various estimates, Pino earned from $1 billion to $2 billion from the deal. This money formed the basis of his new empire.
It is worth noting that US authorities learned about the violations only seven years later. It took them another five years to force Pinault to pay $185 million - just a tenth of what the enterprising Frenchman earned at the time. And Jacques Chirac defended the interests of his friend to the last in this conflict.
And he immediately put the billions of dollars Pino earned in 1991 into business - he bought Conforama, his first retail chain. Another year later - one of the largest Parisian department stores Printemps. And he immediately dismissed his top managers, replacing them with his own people. In 1994, Pinault took over the retail chain La Redoute and the largest bookstore chain in France, Fnac. His group is now called Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR). It is the largest retail group in France with a capitalization of approximately $16 billion.
Meanwhile, Pinot continued to buy. It was as if he was trying to take revenge for 25 years of timber trading and absorbed literally everything: the Orcanta hosiery factory, the pharmaceutical trading company SCOA, the Scandinavian parcel trade association Ellos, office equipment sellers Guilbert and Niceday. For his aggressive indiscriminate buying and total dismissal of managers, Pino was soon nicknamed “the octopus,” and his group was jokingly called “selling everything from paper clips to tractors.” Hearing about this, Pino proudly declared to his employees: “My competitors will either die themselves or I will eat them.”
Master of the world of luxury
The new French nouveau riche Pinault quickly became involved in aristocratic amusements. He became interested in fashion and collecting art. Pinault bought his first painting shortly before the Executive Life scam - in 1990. It was a painting by the artist Pie Mondrien, bought in New York for $8 million. “I realized that I could climb to the top of the art of my time,” he later described his feelings from this purchase. Collecting became his hobby. Taking a break from making money, he went to exhibitions and met with famous collectors and experts. However, he approached these activities from the position of a businessman - he loved luxury and bought the means of its production.
In 1998, he took advantage of the downturn in the art market and bought Christie's auction house. The same one that, together with another British auction - Sotheby's - controls more than 90% of transactions with art objects. For the first time, a foreigner has entered the inner sanctum of this 222-year-old British business.
But Pino was not going to change his rules because of this. Having bought Christie's, the first thing he decided to do was rebuild the headquarters of the auction house... into a hotel with boutiques. Moreover, he translated board meetings into French. And a year later, of the queen’s subjects, only its president, Lord Hindlip, sat in the leadership of the auction house.
The Frenchman treated the “kitchen” of his new business just as rudely. During the transfer of cases, it turned out that since 1992, the leaders of Sotheby's and Christie's had agreed on the size of their clients' commissions. Pino saw this as an opportunity to drown his competitor and reported this to the police. A huge scandal broke out, as a result of which the main leaders of Sotheby's were put on trial, and the US Department of Justice fined Pinault's competitors $45 million. Christie's was released from the fine “for promoting justice.” But now Pinault buys paintings with income from half the world art trade. In 2003 alone, Christie's revenue was $1.4 billion.
Pinault dealt even better with the world of high fashion, having bought the Italian Gucci Group and the French company Yves Saint Laurent in 1999. He stole Gucci from under the nose of Bernard Arnault, the owner of the largest luxury goods manufacturer LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA. Pino seduced Gucci executives Domenico De Sole and Tom Ford with the promise of unprecedented freedom of action and, with their help, carried out an additional issue of shares. As a result, Arnault's share in the Italian company was diluted from 34 to 20%, and Pinault became the owner of 40%. For almost three years, Arnault tried to regain Gucci, but in the end he was forced to sell his shares in the fashion house to a competitor. And having established complete control over Gucci, Pinault threw out De Sole and Ford, who were no longer needed, from the company.
This fraud made Bernard Arnault and Francois Pinault the worst enemies, but the new owner of Gucci is only amused by the anger of his competitor. “Arno and I are waving our fists like two yellow-haired youths,” Pino likes to joke.
The takeover of Yves Saint Laurent, which Pinault bought from its creator for $1 billion plus $70 million for the right to use the famous trademark, did not go so smoothly. As was his habit, having fallen out after concluding a deal with Saint Laurent and deciding to sell his former tailoring workshop, he encountered desperate resistance from the 150 seamstresses working there. Having united in a trade union, the workers obtained a court injunction against the alienation of the studio and even sued Pino for a small compensation of $2,500. Which, however, did not upset Pino very much, who managed to buy Boucheron during the trial with the seamstresses. The French jewelery company, with annual sales of around CHF 200 million, is known for its watches, perfumes and jewellery.
Vineyard lover
Having celebrated his 68th birthday last year, Pinault decided to gradually retire. Even earlier, he announced that he was going to equally divide his empire between his four children, transferring the main leadership to his eldest son. Last year, François-Henri Pinault took over the operational leadership of PPR from his father. And, judging by the currently flaring scandal with the sale of stolen goods at Christie's auction, the son will become a worthy successor to his father's work. The elder Pinault himself is now adding to his largest collection of American paintings in France and runs Chateau-Latour, one of the best vineyards in the world.
Auction Christie's
Sir James Christie's first auction took place in London on December 5, 1766, and Christie's soon became a major player in the art trade. In 1778, Christie sold a collection of paintings by Horace Walpole to the Russian Empress Catherine the Great. These paintings later formed the basis of the Hermitage collection.
Pinot's condition
François Pinault is one of those people about whom they say “you are rich if you don’t know how much money you have.” The exact value of the companies he owns depends on fluctuations in stock prices, but Pinault’s fortune is estimated to be between $5 billion and $8 billion. In addition to retail chains, castles and vineyards, Francois Pinault owns the Paris Marigny theater and the Rennes football club.
Pino Collection
Francois Pinault prefers abstraction. While arranging the park of his castle in Montfort-Lamorie, he ordered sculptures from the American Richard Seurat. The weight of these metal creations is 190 tons. Of his famous paintings, he owns “Relief Sponge” by Yves Klein, Edgar Degas’ bronze sculpture “Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer” and Paul Cézanne’s self-portrait from 1895. In 2006, on the island of Seguin in Paris, in the former workshops of the Renault automobile plant, a new huge museum of modern art will be opened. It will be based on the Pinot collection, one of the best in France.
History with the world of high fashion
In 1999, the world was excited by Pino’s new “trick”. We are talking about the purchase of the Gucci Group and Gucci, which he “won back” from his competitor Bernard Arnault. And here Pino remained true to himself: at first he promised complete freedom of action to the leaders of Gucci, carried out an additional issue of shares with their help, and having established full control, he simply kicked out his former assistants from the company.
It seems that Pino is only amused by such situations. He even jokes about similar topics very often. And he is not at all bothered by the fact that in France his person is called a pirate. After all, this complete antithesis of everything is a bourgeois, coming from a peasant family, who did not even graduate from school, constantly showing himself to be a talented business strategist.
But in the story with YvesSaintLaurent, for the businessman, “the scythe found a stone.” He bought it for 1 billion 70 million dollars. After the deal, he decided to sell the former sewing workshop, but the seamstresses working there started a real “rebellion” by turning to the trade union. The court decision prohibited the businessman from getting rid of the studio and even gave the workers a small compensation.
Recent history
The year 2002 is marked by the acquisition of Facet (a subsidiary of Conforama and Finaref). And in the same year, Guilbert, a furniture trading house, was acquired. And in 2003, a new successful deal was the sale of the building materials retailer PinaultBoisetMatériaux for 565 million euros. The following year, PPR also sold electrical materials maker Rexel, helping to increase its stake in the Gucci Group to a record 99.4%.
PPR spent most of 2007 selling off other companies, moving into the sports goods world. This helped to acquire a 62.1% stake in Puma in 2007.
In 2009, the Pinault family became interested in the world of cinema, organizing a free screening of the film “House” by Yann-Arthus-Bertrand and Luc Besson in one hundred countries around the world. And in 2010, Pino acquired the trademark WildernessSafaris (a South African company specializing in luxury tourism) and Cobra (production of golf products).
Photo 6. When purchasing the Gucci Group, Pinault made a new enemy - Bernard Arnault. Source: fanphobia.net
Other notable equity acquisitions of 2011-2012 include sports brand Volcom, Swiss watchmaker Sowind, Brioni, online retail specialist Yoox, and Chinese jewelry giant Qeelin. Thanks to the latter, our hero becomes the largest retailer of gold jewelry.
Today, PPR is known as Kering and is a French multinational company primarily active in the luxury segment. The modern holding operates in 120 countries around the world.
The most expensive brands in the world include 10 brands.
Personal life
François Pinault's first wife was Louise Gautier, the daughter of a timber supplier. A dowry (447,000 francs), a guarantee from his father-in-law for a Credit Lyonnais loan, plus his own savings helped start the business at the very beginning. This marriage produced three children, but their parents divorced when the first-born was 4 years old.
The name of the eldest son is François Henri Pinault, and he is better known to the public than his mother and the rest of the heirs (brother Domenick and sister Laurence, as well as half-sister Florence). The father gave all the children an excellent education, and the first-born also headed (and simply received as a gift) numerous companies.
Francois Henri gained great fame after his love affairs - with Linda Evangelista (whom he leaves pregnant) and Salma Hayek, who became his wife and mother of his daughter Valentina Paloma. The married couple often appears together at various film awards:
Photo 7. Son of Francois Henri Pinault with his wife Salma Hayek. Source: woman.ru
Pedigree
François-Henri Pinault's grandfather was a simple timber merchant in Brittany, a province in northwestern France. The father of the future billionaire was sent to school, but did not shine with academic success. He was more interested in business than lessons. Therefore, at the age of 16, the young man left school and tried to start his own business, working part-time wherever he could. Having achieved nothing significant, he went to Algeria. What François Pinault Sr. did there is unknown, but he returned home with a sum of money that allowed him to get married. The choice fell on Louise Gautier, the daughter of a timber supplier. The dowry and her own capital made it possible to finally open her own business. François Pinault became a timber merchant at just 27 years old. Meanwhile, three children appeared in the family one after another, the eldest of whom is our hero Francois-Henri Pinault. The boy was about 4 years old when his parents divorced. Louise Gautier did not show herself in any way after the divorce, so there is practically no information about her. And Pinault Sr. actively increased his wealth, taking over new companies by hook or by crook, and gradually increased his fortune to $8 billion.
Charity
Francois Pinault is also a philanthropist. Since 2008, PPR has been involved in the affairs of the Foundation for the Defense of Women's Rights and Dignity, which he founded. The main focus of the lesson is protecting women's rights (cooperation with non-governmental organizations).
The following areas of financing are being considered:
- anti-violence projects;
- women's empowerment projects;
- sponsorship in the social sphere;
- preventive programs.
