Arnault threatens to pull Le Monde ads after offshore tax exposé
LVMH owner unhappy about newspaper’s Paradise Papers coverage
Bernard Arnault, the billionaire owner of French luxury group LVMH, is threatening to pull advertising from Le Monde for the rest of 2017 in response to the newspaper’s revelations of his personal use of tax havens, people with knowledge of the plan said.
Mr Arnault, France’s richest man, has been unhappy about the newspaper’s coverage last week detailing how he spread assets in six offshore jurisdictions with the help of at least eight different firms, the people said, confirming a report in satirical investigative weekly newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné on Wednesday.
The Le Monde story on Mr Arnault was part of the so-called Paradise Papers revelations sourced from leaked legal documents and covered by scores of media organisations around the world.
Mr Arnault’s stand has a family twist: his daughter Delphine, a senior executive at Louis Vuitton, is the partner of Xavier Niel, the billionaire telecoms entrepreneur, and one of Le Monde’s largest shareholders. The pair have two children.
Louis Dreyfus, chief executive officer of Le Monde, declined to comment. A spokesman for LVMH denied that there would be a “total cut” in its advertising in Le Monde but said that for several months “the reduction of advertising investments in the classical media and the increase in budgets for digital and more growing media” have been under discussion.
In a statement sent to AFP following the Paradise Papers revelations, Mr Arnault said the assets cited by Le Monde were “constituted in a perfectly legal way”. He denounced a “journalistic operation” by Le Monde “to create a sensation” and pointed out that he was among the top taxpayers in France, paying more than €1bn in taxes annually.
The 13.4m financial documents belonging to law firm Appleby have exposed the offshore arrangements of thousands of companies, celebrities and royalty over several days last week. The Queen, racing driver Lewis Hamilton, US technology group Apple and sports brand Nike have had their finances scrutinised and received criticism for their extensive use of complex financial schemes in tax-friendly jurisdictions.
Advertisers have a history of using their financial muscle to try to shape coverage in the French media. Luxury and consumer brands are the largest providers of advertising revenues for Le Monde, especially since it launched its weekly lifestyle magazine, M, according to an insider.
Mr Arnault, owner of Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, has long been known in journalistic circles for his hands-on approach with the press, not hesitating to contact editors to complain about a story, whether on the luxury sector or on politics.
Journalists at Les Echos, the business daily, opposed his purchase of the newspaper in 2007 and briefly went on strike to express concerns about editorial independence.
Mr Niel owns a controlling stake in the French newspaper with Lazard banker Matthieu Pigasse, who regularly advises Mr Arnault on deals. They acquired it in 2010 along with Pierre Bergé, the late business partner of Yves Saint Laurent. Following Mr Bergé’s death earlier this year, Mr Niel and Mr Pigasse split Mr Bergé’s shares in Le Monde equally between them.
Paul Benkimoun, head of Le Monde’s staff association, said he had no information on Mr Arnault’s advertising plan. He added that Le Monde had no regrets for doing its journalistic job and that the story on Mr Arnault proved its editorial independence given his links with Mr Niel and Mr Pigasse. Mr Niel declined to comment. Mr Pigasse was not immediately available for comment.
In its story last week, Le Monde described, among other things, how Mr Arnault set up a Jersey-based company called Bessington Investments Limited to buy a 4,300 sq metre luxury villa about 30km from London and how one of his 101-metre-long yachts, Symphony, registered in the Cayman Islands, was held by a Malta-based company, Sonata Yachting Limited.