{"id":61275,"date":"2026-10-29T10:23:05","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T07:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesauditimes.net\/en\/?p=61275"},"modified":"2026-10-29T10:23:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T07:23:05","slug":"francois-henri-pinault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesauditimes.net\/en\/francois-henri-pinault\/","title":{"rendered":"Fran\u00e7ois-Henri Pinault, Kering Chairman Who Turned a Retail Group Into a Luxury House"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fran\u00e7ois-Henri Pinault is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kering, the Paris-based luxury group that owns Gucci, Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta. He led the company as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for twenty years, from 2005 until September 2025.<\/p>\n

During that time he turned a retail group known as Pinault-Printemps-Redoute into a group focused only on luxury. In 2025 he handed the chief executive role to Luca de Meo and kept the chairmanship.<\/p>\n

Education<\/h3>\n

Pinault is a graduate of HEC Paris, the French business school, according to his biography in the Kering 2025 Universal Registration Document.<\/p>\n

Career<\/h3>\n

Pinault joined the Pinault group in 1987. He held senior posts in several of its operating subsidiaries before he became a member of its Management Board.<\/p>\n

In 2000 he was named Deputy Chief Executive of PPR, the company that later became Kering<\/a>, with responsibility for its digital strategy. He has sat on the Kering board since 17 January 2001.<\/p>\n

In 2003 he became Chairman of Artemis, the company that is Kering’s core shareholder. Two years later, in 2005, Pinault-Printemps-Redoute changed its name to PPR and he was appointed its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.<\/p>\n

The group he took over still ran large retail chains. Kering’s own history lists the department stores of Printemps, the furniture chain Conforama, the mail order business La Redoute and the books and electronics retailer Fnac among its holdings at the time.<\/p>\n

Over the next decade the group sold or listed those businesses one by one. Printemps went in two steps in 2006 and 2007, Conforama was sold in 2011, Fnac was listed on the Paris stock exchange in 2013 and La Redoute was sold in 2014.<\/p>\n

In 2013 the group changed its name from PPR to Kering. The same year it bought majority stakes in the Chinese jewellery brand Qeelin and the Italian jewellery group Pomellato.<\/p>\n

In 2018 Kering distributed its PUMA shares to its own shareholders, which left it as a group devoted to luxury. Since then the company has described itself as a pure player in the sector.<\/p>\n

In 2023 Pinault began a review of how the group should be governed. On 16 June 2025 the board approved the separation of the roles of chairman and chief executive and named Luca de Meo, then head of Renault Group, as Chief Executive Officer.<\/p>\n

De Meo took office on 15 September 2025, after shareholders approved his appointment as a director at a meeting on 9 September. Pinault has served as Chairman of the Board since that date.<\/p>\n

On 16 April 2026, at a Capital Markets Day, de Meo presented ReconKering, the new strategic plan for the group. In the 2025 annual document, Pinault wrote that the plan plays to the strengths of houses with unique identities.<\/p>\n

Kering’s houses today include Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, McQueen, Brioni, Boucheron, Pomellato, Dodo, Qeelin and Ginori 1735, alongside Kering Eyewear.<\/p>\n

Current Roles<\/h3>\n