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LVMH’s management reshuffle continues. Toni Belloni, group managing director of LVMH and chairman of its executive committee, will relinquish his duties and leave the board of directors following its annual general meeting on 18 April, the company announced on Thursday.
Belloni will remain in charge of “strategic missions” for LVMH founder, CEO and chairman Bernard Arnault and will become president of LVMH Italy.
Stéphane Bianchi, who’s currently CEO of the watches and jewellery division, will succeed Belloni, meaning he will chair the group’s executive committee and oversee the presidents of the regions and the group’s digital and data transformation.
Belloni has been a key force in the acquisitions of the group, notably Tiffany and Bulgari. “At my side as group managing director and member of the board of directors for over two decades, Toni has been a major contributor to the success of LVMH. Inspiring, curious and unfailingly loyal, he has participated in all the acquisitions of recent years and has supported the growth of the group and its teams with agility and pragmatism,” Arnault said in a statement. During Belloni’s tenure as group managing director, LVMH’s annual revenue went from €12.2 billion in 2001 to €86.2 billion in 2023.
The change is part of a wider reorganisation of LVMH’s top management. In 2023, Pietro Beccari succeeded Michael Burke as chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton, and this year, Michael Burke replaced Sidney Toledano at the helm of LVMH Fashion Group.
During the annual earnings conference in January, Bernard Arnault had teased Bianchi’s move: “Watches also achieved good success, headed up by Stéphane Bianchi, who’ll soon be assuming other responsibilities. We’ll discuss that in due course.”
Before joining LVMH, Bianchi was CEO of Yves Rocher Group (he became CEO in 1998 at age 33). In 2018, he joined LVMH as CEO of Tag Heuer and the watchmaking division. In 2020, he was promoted to CEO of the watches and jewellery division, leaving Frédéric Arnault, Bernard Arnault’s third son, to take over Tag Heuer and then LVMH Watches. They have been working together closely since 2018. Since January 2023, the watches and jewellery division includes Tiffany, meaning Bianchi also worked with Arnault’s second son, Alexandre, who heads up product and communications at Tiffany & Co.
“Since joining the group, Stéphane Bianchi has demonstrated rare leadership and management qualities while immersing himself in the group's entrepreneurial and family culture,” Bernard Arnault said in a statement. “I am delighted by his new role and am convinced that with Stéphane at my side, and with the entire executive committee and the group’s employees, we will take the success of the LVMH group even further while respecting our values and commitments.”
“Toni Belloni is a phenomenal leader and has been one of LVMH’s driving forces of the group’s success. Stéphane Bianchi is very respected in the industry and knowledgeable about the group. It shows that LVMH has a bench of high-calibre managers and opportunities for career development,” says Mario Ortelli, managing director of luxury consultancy Ortelli & Co.
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