ITS ABOUT TIME FOR HISTORY!

Hey People, I don't know if you can tell by now that I like to give a history lesson every Sunday about Brands and how they started, as well as who is behind them. Today I want to discuss LVMH which stands for Louis Vutton, Moet & Hennessy which was merged in 1987. This being the largest luxury goods conglomerate in the world as well as a french holding company. This company is controlled by Bernard Arnault who is the Chairman and CEO of LVMH which is in part owned by The Christian Dior Group, which Mr Arnault is also The Chairman and CEO of.

Today the group operates a total of more than sixty luxury brands ranging from Wines & Spirits, Fashion & Leather Goods, Perfumes & Cosmetics, Watches & Jewelry and Selective retailing. Last year in 2007 this incredibly super power luxury group generated an estimated 25.87 billion dollars and employed roughly 72,000 people world wide. The most impressive part is out of that Louis Vutton accounts for an estimated 12 billion dollars of that, and there leather isn't even that good but what a marketing money making machine!

So what has this got to do with watches? Well, the watch brands in their portfolio, though only a few, are very important brands with a history and the spirit of passion. The watch Brands include, Zenith, Tag Heuer which is the number 2 brand worldwide after rolex, Louis Vutton, Dior, Chaumet watches and jewelery, Fred watches and jewelry and just newly acquired this April 2008, Hublot which has really helped legitimize their watch division, even though though I think they are unoriginal with their ever so popular Big Bang which is a complete rip-off of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. Not to detract from the watch division, eqaully important as far as jewelry goes you couldn't get a better partnership than LV and the biggest site holder for diamonds in the world, De Beers. The partnership between the two luxury giants developed in November 2002, De Beers international stores have grown to 22 locations the world over from Paris, London, New York and Beverly Hills to Tokyo and Dubai.

So just when you think that LVMH known as the leader of Champagne, Handbags, and jewels like anything they take on best in what they do with money and tightly controlled distribution, their commitment and intense passion for collecting the best watch brands in the world and making them the most successful rockstars is not to be underestimated for a second!

logo pic courtesy of www.lvmh.com