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Hall of Fame Biographies
LVMH Henry Marcel Racamier was born in 1912, in Pont-de-Roide, in the Doubs region of eastern France, the son of an industrialist. After acquiring a business degree in Paris, in 1949 he founded Stinox, a small but highly profitable steel trading company and had sold it at a huge profit. When his father-in-law, Gaston Vuitton, died in 1970, the family was divided about how to run Vuitton. Racamier, who retired from steel in 1977, was asked to take over. Racamier had married a descendant of Louis Vuitton and was asked at age 65 by the family of his wife, Odile Vuitton, the great-granddaughter of Louis Vuitton, to run the family's leather goods business. In 13 years, he expanded it through growth and acquisitions into a world-renowned, billion-dollar luxury goods conglomerate, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Yet in a bitter battle with Bernard Arnault, Racamier was ultimately stripped of power and ousted from the board. Though toying with the idea of remaining in the luxury goods business, Racamier ultimately dedicated himself to his other passions, most notably music and sailing. While running Vuitton, he started the yachting races that bear the company's name; as founder of the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Opera, Music and the Arts, he became a major benefactor of musicians and museums around the world. Vuitton had been synonymous with prestige almost since it was founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton, who was imperial layetier, or clothes packer, for Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III. Yet when Racamier took over, the company appeared mired in the 19th century. Vuitton had just two stores, one in Paris and one in Nice, and had annual revenue of about $14m. Bringing management skills acquired in the steel business, Racamier modernised the way Vuitton made and marketed its leather goods and tapped the potential of the immense Asian market. Yet success led to fear of outside takeover. So in 1987, after long and discreet discussions, Racamier announced the merger of Vuitton with Moët-Hennessy, the venerable Paris-based champagne and cognac producer, and renamed the combination LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. The idea was that the combined group would be too large for a hostile raider. Instead, the siege came from within. In 1988, Racamier invited a relatively unknown French businessman, Bernard Arnault, then 39, to invest in LVMH, hoping to gain him as an ally in a management struggle. But after joining LVMH, Arnault turned against Racamier and after a two-year battle for control ousted him from the board. By the time of his departure, LVMH had more than 130 stores worldwide and annual revenue of $1.2bn, with Asia accounting for almost 40% of the total. After leaving LVMH, Racamier pursued some business interests but largely turned to his involvement in music and sailing. He died in Sardinia in 2003 at the age of 90. |
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