Pinault

Franµois (1936). French businessman and entrepreneur. He owns the PPR (Pinault-Printemps-Redoute) group, a distribution giant that has acquired Sanofi, the company that owns Yves Saint Laurent, and that blocked the acquisition of the Gucci Group by LVMH, the luxury goods company owned by Bernard Arnault, by increasing its own stake in Gucci. A self-taught and self-made man, he is one of the richest men in France. He was born in Brittany in Les Champs Geraux. He started dealing in the wood trade in 1963, becoming the European leader in this sector. His earnings enabled him to acquire big distribution companies in the 1980s and 1990s like Conforama (furniture and electrical goods), Printemps (a chain of department stores), Redoute (mail-order sales), and in 1994 Fnac (a chain of bookshops that also sells CDs and electronic gadgets). PPR’s acquisition of Gucci shares preluded its attempt to form a luxury goods group to compete with Arnault’s, and it turned out to be a winning move.