Fashion tycoon Bernard Arnault accused of stranglehold over French business press

Donald Trump and Bernard Arnault at the opening of a Louis Vuitton factory in Texas. Arnault was at Trump’s second inauguration in January last year. Photograph: Michael Buckner/WWD/Rex/Shutterstock View image in fullscreen Donald Trump and Bernard Arnault at the opening of a Louis Vuitton factory in Texas. Arnault was at Trump’s second inauguration in January last year. Photograph: Michael Buckner/WWD/Rex/Shutterstock Fashion tycoon Bernard Arnault accused of stranglehold over French business press Arnault’s addition of leading weekly to stable of publications raises concerns about media ownership in France He is known as the “wolf in cashmere” – the owner of the world’s biggest luxury group whose brands including Louis Vuitton , Dior and Tiffany have made him one of the world’s richest people. But Bernard Arnault , a close friend of Donald Trump, is under fire from journalists’ unions in France for buying up almost all the country’s business and economic press. Reporters Without Borders said Arnault had a “stranglehold” on the main business titles in France after his LVMH group bought the centrist business weekly Challenges . LVMH, whose brands include fashion, perfumes, champagne and spirits, has an array of business publications including the leading economic daily paper, Les Echos, and the business information service L’Agefi. View image in fullscreen A Louis Vuitton store in Tokyo. The luxury brand has helped make Bernard Arnault one of the world’s richest people. Photograph: Andrzej Iwańczuk/NurPhoto/Shutterstock Reporters Without Borders and journalists’ unions have filed two different complaints over the purchase of Challenges. France’s council of state is considering whether authorities failed to properly examine the scope of LVMH’s business media ownership, and the competition watchdog is considering union arguments that the group “abused its dominant position” by acquiring Challenges. “This is a textbook example of the loopholes in French law which fail to keep media ownership in check,” said Laure Chauvel, the head of the France-Italy desk at Reporters Without Borders. LVMH did not comment when approached by the Guardian . But Arnault, who also owns the daily newspaper Le Parisien and the celebrity magazine Paris Match, told a senate committee in 2022 that he bought media “in the general interest”, to protect key titles and keep them alive. Arnault’s expansion comes amid growing debate over the handful of billionaires who dominate media ownership and are reshaping the news landscape before next spring’s presidential election . The far right is polling high as Emmanuel Macron’s two terms in office near an end. View image in fullscreen Vincent Bolloré appears before a French parliamentary inquiry into the content and control of national terrestrial television broadcasting licences. Photograph: Henrique Campos/Hans Lucas/AFP/Getty Images The most prominent billionaire is Vincent Bolloré , the conservative industrialist who is close to f