Hollywood's French Duel

For rival billionaire moguls Bernard Arnault and François-Henri Pinault, it's high noon in the battle to stake a claim in the movie business. Is Tinseltown big enough for both of them?

-  Christina Binkley

Hollywood is famously awash in irony and blood feuds. So perhaps it's fitting that, after locking horns for decades in Europe over Gucci, Hedi Slimane and the finest champagnes, Bernard Arnault and François-Henri Pinault have exported their Gallic rivalry across the Atlantic, each billionaire now determined to conquer the epicentre of film and television just as he has vanquished the world of luxury.

The duelling titans are building foundations in Hollywood that could be transformative not only for their many brands-which are chock-ablock with unplumbed archives-but also for the entertainment business, which knows how to tell a compelling tale. Last September, Pinault, chairman and chief executive of Kering, bought a majority stake in Creative Artists Agency (CAA) for a reported US$2.8 billion through his family's private-investment group, Artémis. Kering, a publicly traded company controlled by Pinault, was not directly involved, but the move raised speculation that its brands-which include Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Balenciaga and Boucheron-could benefit from entertainment relationships, particularly among celebrities, who remain the world's most powerful influencers.

Months later, Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH (also a public company), one-upped Pinault by launching an entirely new entertainment studio in partnership with wellconnected Hollywood marketing veterans who-in case the move didn't sting enough-once worked for CAA. Arnault named the studio 22 Montaigne Entertainment, after his company's plush address in Paris's 8th arrondissement, and placed his eldest son, Antoine, in charge.