Pietro Beccari will replace Michael Burke, Louis Vuitton’s CEO of 10 years, and Delphine Arnault has been named CEO and chairman of Dior. Also known to occur in Rivian. Top executives leave the start-up.

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Louis Vuitton and reshuffling of top management positions

Louis Vuitton starts 2023 with one of the biggest personnel changes in years. Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has announced a major reshuffling of top management positions.

Beccari, who took over as president and CEO of Dior Couture in 2018, could replace Michael Burke, the current CEO.

Beccari will return to the brand he previously worked for, joining the leather goods giant in 2006. In recent years, the Italian managing director has overseen Dior's remarkable growth, where analysts estimate revenue has more than tripled in the past five years. At Dior, Beccari's achievements include the opening of a massive new flagship store in Paris' luxury shopping district, which spans five levels. Revenue rose from €2.2 billion in 2017 to €8.8 billion in 2022, according to HSBC estimates. Sales grew 35 percent in 2022, beating the industry average.

Meanwhile, Michael Burke, who has led the fashion brand for a decade and is one of Arnault's most trusted lieutenants - LVMH's CEO and majority shareholder - who has worked with him since the 1980s, will now take on new responsibilities reporting directly to Arnault. During his 10-year tenure at Louis Vuitton, Burke, who had worked with Arnault for decades, managed to nearly triple the size of the brand. In 2013, sales amounted to EUR 7.1 billion. According to HSBC estimates, in 2022 they amounted to EUR 20.6 billion.

Beccari currently heads Dior and will be succeeded by Delphine Arnault, the eldest of Mr Arnault's five children.

The management changes mark a sort of homecoming for Arnault, who worked at Dior for 12 years before joining Louis Vuitton as No. 2 in 2013. It is also the first time that he takes up the position of CEO of one of the LVMH brands. Delphine Arnault, the executive vice president of Louis Vuitton, who oversees all of its product-related activities, has been named chairman and CEO of Christian Dior Couture, while Charles Delapalme, currently Dior’s executive vice president in charge of commercial activities, will become managing director.

Changes are effective 1 February.

Since the beginning of the year, LVMH's share price has skyrocketed after it closed 2022 at 679.90. Currently, LVMHs are above 750 and have been at an all-time high for over 5 years.

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Rivian’s problems

The electric car market has been having a difficult time lately. Especially startups suffer from this. Rivian Automotive Inc is a perfect example of this. Start-up EV will end a year in which it failed to meet its production targets.

Last year, Rivian failed to produce 25,000 vehicles. The company said it missed its target by about 700 vehicles, partly due to difficulties obtaining parts.

This is not the end of the problems of the star-up. Several top executives have left Rivian. The departing directors are some of Rivian's long-time employees. These include Randy Frank, VP of Exterior and Interior Engineering and Steve Gawronski, VP of Parts Procurement. They both left around the beginning of this year. Another employee, Patrick Hunt, a senior director on the strategy team, left the company late last year. Mr Hunt joined Rivian in 2015.Rivian's general counsel, Neil Sitron, left in September after 4.5 years with the firm, which was founded in 2009.

Changes at the top of Rivian come as the company tries to transform itself from a start-up looking to raise capital to a mass-producer with ambitions to become one of the world's largest carmakers.

RIVIN shares are at their lowest level. The company ended 2022 with a price of 18 430, but the new year did not bring an increase, but a decrease, as shown by its current price of 16 590.

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Source: wsj.com, finance.yahoo.com