Bernard Arnault, CEO of luxury conglomerate LVMH, has a private collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) despite publicly expressing skepticism about the digital asset.
“Oh, there’s no question,” said Ian Rogers, the former digital chief at LVMH, when asked if Arnault is buying NFTs on a recent episode of Aarthi and Sriram’s Good Time Show podcast.
“I don’t think he minds me saying this – he has shown me, of his own volition, his OpenSea site,” Rogers said, referring to a digital NFT marketplace. “That means he had to pull out the phone, find it and then take me through it. So yes.”
Arnault, the world’s richest person with a net worth of $204 billion, joins the ranks of other billionaires who have built collections of the digital artwork. Investor and Hai tank Judge Mark Cuban, who is worth $6.5 billion, is an avid NFT collector, as are Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who co-founded crypto exchange Gemini and have a combined net worth of $3 billion.
NFTs have brought in millions in recent years. Beeple’s Weekdays: The first 5,000 days remains the most expensive NFT to date, having sold for $69.3 million in 2021 at a Christie’s auction, while Clock by anonymous artist Pak sold for $52.7 million in February 2022.
Why did Arnault change his mind about NFTs?
The disclosure of Arnault’s collection marks a sharp turn from his earlier warnings regarding NFTs. “We’re very much in the real world,” he said during an LVMH earnings call in January 2022. “We’re not interested in selling a pair of virtual sneakers for 10 euros.”
The LVMH chief also warned that NFTs may represent a “bubble” that could soon burst, compared to the dawn of the Internet in the 2000s, when “there were all kinds of things popping up left, right and center.”
However, Arnault noted that the concept was “thought-provoking” and that “there may be more relevant applications” where NFTs generate profit.
LMVH has occasionally dabbled in digital tokens through its many companies, added NFTs to a mobile game for Louis Vuitton, and released Fendi accessories for a cryptocurrency wallet. But the luxury conglomerate’s most enthusiastic NFT ventures have been led by two of Arnault’s children, Alexandre and Frederic, who are both avid NFT collectors.
Alexandre, whose Twitter profile picture is an NFT from the CryptoPunks collection, is currently executive vice president of product and communications at Tiffany & Co. turns his CryptoPunk into a pendant made of sapphires, rubies and diamonds, Tiffany released “NFTiff”, which gives other CryptoPunk owners the opportunity to buy jewelry inspired by their NFTs for around $50,000.
Meanwhile, Frederic also has an NFT as his Twitter profile picture, this one from the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection. As CEO of Tag Heuer, he launched a smartwatch in 2022 with a dial that displays NFTs.
In addition to collecting NFTs, Arnault is a prominent collector of blue-chip artwork. Listed with his wife Helene as the richest couple in the 2020 list of top 200 collectors by Artnews, his collection includes works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst.
In 2014, Arnault opened the Fondation Louis Vuitton, a private museum and cultural space, in Paris. Designed by architect Frank Gehry, the property houses a permanent collection of works owned by LVMH and Arnault and hosts temporary exhibitions.
