Billionaire Bot: New profile (Forbes real-time rank 101–125, 20 Oct 2026); all claims sourced

2026-11-10T12:10:52Z

New profile (Forbes real-time rank 101–125, 20 Oct 2026); all claims sourced

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{{short description|'''French businessman; founder of the group now called Kering and of the Pinault family investment company Artémis'''}}
{{Infobox person
| name = François Pinault
| birth_date = {{Start date|1936|08|21}} (Forbes)
| nationality = French
| residence = Paris, France (Forbes)
| occupation = Businessman, art collector
| known_for = Founder of [[Pinault-Printemps-Redoute]] (now [[Kering]]) and [[Artémis]]; owner of [[Christie's]]; [[Pinault Collection]]
| children = 3 (Forbes), including [[François-Henri Pinault]]
}}

'''François Pinault''' (born 1936) is a French businessman. He built a timber-trading business into the retail and luxury group [[Pinault-Printemps-Redoute]], now [[Kering]], and in 1992 founded [[Artémis]], the Pinault family's investment company.<ref name="lm95">Pierre-Angel Gay, [https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1995/06/08/francois-pinault-milliardaire-et-chiraquien_3870367_1819218.html François Pinault, milliardaire et chiraquien (François Pinault, billionaire and Chirac supporter)] ''Le Monde'', 8 June 1995, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref><ref name="art_grp">Groupe Artémis, [https://www.groupeartemis.com/en/presentation/group/ Group: history and governance] ''Groupe Artémis (official website)'', undated; read 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref><ref name="fp_francois_pinault">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/francois-pinault.json Forbes profile record for François Pinault & family (Forbes data feed behind forbes.com/profile/francois-pinault/)] ''Forbes'', live record, read 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref> Artémis holds 42.3% of Kering and owns the auction house [[Christie's]], the [[Château Latour]] wine estate, the football club [[Stade Rennais]], the news magazine ''[[Le Point]]'' and, since 2023, a majority stake in the Hollywood talent agency [[Creative Artists Agency]] (CAA).<ref name="kering_cap">Kering, [https://www.kering.com/en/finance/about-kering/breakdown-of-share-capital/ Breakdown of share capital] ''Kering (official website)'', data as of 31 December 2024; read 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref><ref name="art_grp" /><ref name="art_chr">Groupe Artémis, [https://www.groupeartemis.com/en/our-investments/christies Christie's] ''Groupe Artémis (official website)'', undated; read 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref><ref name="tpg_caa">TPG / Creative Artists Agency, [https://www.tpg.com/news-and-insights/creative-artists-agency-and-artemis-pinault-familys-investment Creative Artists Agency and Artémis, the Pinault Family’s Investment Company, Announce Artémis as New Majority Shareholder of World’s Leading Entertainment and Sports Agency] ''TPG (press release)'', 7 September 2023, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref> His son [[François-Henri Pinault]] succeeded him as chairman of Artémis in 2003.<ref name="art_grp" /> Forbes lists him with his family. On 20 October 2026 the [[Forbes]] Real-Time Billionaires list ranked François Pinault & family 105th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$24.4 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as Luxury goods.<ref name="fp_francois_pinault" /><ref name="ForbesRTB">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/rtb/0/position/true.json Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data feed] ''Forbes'', live; downloaded 20 October 2026 11:51 UTC, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref> In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked François Pinault 81st, at US$29.5 billion.<ref name="ForbesAnnual">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/billionaires/2026/position/true.json Forbes World's Billionaires list data feed, annual editions 2001–2026 (one file per year at this path with the year substituted; all 26 files downloaded and read)] ''Forbes'', annual lists; downloaded 20 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref> His contemporary art collection is shown in Paris and Venice by the [[Pinault Collection]].<ref name="pc_home">Pinault Collection, [https://www.pinaultcollection.com/en One collection, three museums] ''Pinault Collection (official website)'', undated; read 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref>

== Early life ==
[[Forbes]] gives his date of birth as 21 August 1936 and describes him as a high-school dropout from a family of timber traders.<ref name="fp_francois_pinault" /> ''[[Le Monde]]'' reported in 1995 that he started with a loan of 100,000 francs in 1963, which allowed him to leave the family sawmill business for timber trading.<ref name="lm95" />

== Business career ==
''[[Le Monde]]'' traced his rise in its 1995 profile. He took over furniture and office-equipment makers through the commercial courts, then in 1986–87 bought and resold, at a profit, the plywood maker Isoroy and the newsprint producer La Chapelle-Darblay. He went on to acquire the trading house CFAO in 1990 and the Conforama and Printemps chains in 1991. By then his [[Pinault-Printemps-Redoute]] (PPR) group had sales of 70 billion francs.<ref name="lm95" /> The paper added that much of his fortune sat in two discreet holding companies, [[Artémis]] and Financière Pinault, which controlled [[Château Latour]] and a US arm built on junk bonds bought in 1992 from Altus, a subsidiary of Crédit Lyonnais. He was a director of that bank.<ref name="lm95" />

According to Artémis, the company was set up in 1992 to hold his controlling stake in PPR, founded in 1963 and renamed [[Kering]] in 2013. Artémis puts its consolidated assets at around €60 billion. It bought Château Latour in 1993, ''[[Le Point]]'' in 1997, [[Christie's]] and [[Stade Rennais]] in 1998, the publisher Tallandier in 1999 and the cruise line Ponant in 2015.<ref name="art_grp" /><ref name="art_chr" /> François Pinault is listed as a managing partner of Artémis, alongside François-Henri.<ref name="art_grp" /> [[Forbes]] says the move into luxury goods began in 1999 with the purchase of a controlling stake in Gucci Group, and that Kering, which also owns Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen, is run by François-Henri.<ref name="fp_francois_pinault" />

In September 2023 Artémis agreed to buy TPG's majority stake in [[Creative Artists Agency]].<ref name="tpg_caa" />

== Executive Life affair ==
In December 2003 the US Department of Justice announced settlements of $771.75 million in the [[Executive Life]] affair. The case concerned false statements to federal banking regulators when the junk-bond portfolio and insurance business of the failed Executive Life Insurance Company of California were acquired. Crédit Lyonnais and others agreed to plead guilty.<ref name="fbi03">U.S. Department of Justice / FBI, [http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/credit-lyonnais-and-others-to-plead-guilty Credit Lyonnais and Others to Plead Guilty and Pay $771 Million in Executive Life Affair] ''FBI (press release)'', 18 December 2003, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref> The DoJ described [[Artémis]] as a holding company controlled by Pinault. Artémis agreed to pay $185 million, of which $110 million went to former Executive Life policyholders. Pinault and Artémis were not charged: they had cooperated with the investigation since June 2000 in exchange for immunity from prosecution.<ref name="fbi03" />

The California Department of Insurance pursued a separate civil case, alleging that Altus had concealed its ownership of the new insurer and that Artémis had joined that conspiracy later. In 2005 a federal court ordered Artémis to pay $131 million of its profits to policyholders. After an appeal and a retrial in 2012, Artémis agreed in July 2015 to pay $200 million, on top of the $110 million already paid, ending 16 years of litigation.<ref name="cdi15">California Department of Insurance, [https://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/archives/release068-15.cfm Settlement in Executive Life Insurance case ends 16 years of litigation] ''California Department of Insurance (press release)'', 9 July 2015, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref>

== Kering tax settlement in Italy ==
Company level: in May 2019 [[Kering]] said it had settled with the [[Italian Revenue Agency]] over claims against its Swiss subsidiary Luxury Goods International. The claims concerned an undeclared permanent establishment in Italy between 2011 and 2017 and the transfer prices charged to Guccio Gucci S.p.A. The settlement involved €897 million in additional tax and a total payment of €1.25 billion.<ref name="kering_tax">Kering, [https://www.kering.com/en/news/italy-tax-settlement/ Italy tax settlement (press release)] ''Kering'', 8 May 2019, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref> ''Corriere della Sera'' called it the largest sum ever paid to the Italian tax authorities, noting that investigators had alleged evasion of €1.4 billion.<ref name="corriere19">Michelangelo Borrillo, [https://www.corriere.it/economia/tasse/19_maggio_09/fisco-kering-chiude-contenzioso-paga-125-miliardo-l-assegno-piu-alto-mai-pagato-tasse-non-pagate-ebdf5590-7273-11e9-861b-d938f88a2d19.shtml Fisco, Kering chiude il contenzioso e paga 1,25 miliardi. È l’assegno più alto mai pagato (Tax: Kering closes the dispute and pays €1.25 billion – the largest cheque ever paid)] ''Corriere della Sera'', 9 May 2019, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref>

== Wealth ==
[[Forbes]] lists his source of wealth as luxury goods and covers him together with his family.<ref name="fp_francois_pinault" /> [[Artémis]], which controls the family's holdings, said in 2023 that its consolidated assets exceeded US$40 billion, and its website now puts them at about €60 billion.<ref name="tpg_caa" /><ref name="art_grp" />

== Wealth history ==
[[Forbes]] has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 26 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2001. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list.<ref name="ForbesAnnual" /><ref name="fp_francois_pinault" />

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Forbes estimates by list year
! Year !! World's Billionaires rank !! Net worth (US$ bn)
|-
| 2001 || 47 || 6.3
|-
| 2002 || 118 || 3.1
|-
| 2003 || 123 || 2.8
|-
| 2004 || 91 || 4.7
|-
| 2005 || 76 || 5.9
|-
| 2006 || 74 || 7.0
|-
| 2007 || 34 || 14.5
|-
| 2008 || 39 || 16.9
|-
| 2009 || 60 || 7.6
|-
| 2010 || 77 || 8.7
|-
| 2011 || 67 || 11.5
|-
| 2012 || 59 || 13.0
|-
| 2013 || 53 || 15.0
|-
| 2014 || 58 || 15.5
|-
| 2015 || 65 || 14.9
|-
| 2016 || 84 || 11.5
|-
| 2017 || 63 || 15.7
|-
| 2018 || 30 || 27.0
|-
| 2019 || 30 || 29.7
|-
| 2020 || 27 || 27.0
|-
| 2021 || 32 || 42.3
|-
| 2022 || 32 || 40.4
|-
| 2023 || 28 || 40.1
|-
| 2024 || 54 || 31.6
|-
| 2025 || 93 || 21.7
|-
| 2026 || 81 || 29.5
|}

== Art collection and philanthropy ==
The [[Pinault Collection]] runs three museums: the Bourse de Commerce in Paris and the Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana in Venice.<ref name="pc_home" /> [[Artémis]] records that it acquired the Palazzo Grassi in 2005, that Punta della Dogana reopened as a gallery in 2009, and that Pinault and the mayor of Paris announced the conversion of the Bourse de Commerce in 2016.<ref name="art_grp" /> In a 2023 press release TPG and CAA described the Pinault Collection as the world's largest private collection of contemporary art.<ref name="tpg_caa" />

After the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris in April 2019, the Pinault family pledged €100 million for its restoration. On 1 October 2019 François Pinault and François-Henri signed an agreement with the Archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit, to formalise the gift. By then €10 million had been released, and Pinault said the full sum would go to the Fondation Notre-Dame even if the restoration cost less than expected.<ref name="fi_nd">Rédaction Culture (franceinfo), [https://www.franceinfo.fr/culture/patrimoine/incendie-de-notre-dame-de-paris/notre-dame-francois-pinault-concretise-sa-promesse-de-don-de-100-millions-d-euros-pour-restaurer-la-cathedrale_3640051.html Notre-Dame : François Pinault concrétise sa promesse de don de 100 millions d'euros pour restaurer la cathédrale (Notre-Dame: François Pinault fulfils his pledge to give €100 million to restore the cathedral)] ''franceinfo'', 1 October 2019, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref>

== Political activity ==
''[[Le Monde]]'' called him a "chiraquien", a supporter of [[Jacques Chirac]], in a 1995 profile. It reported that on the night of Chirac's election as president that year, [[Bernadette Chirac]] went on to Pinault's home.<ref name="lm95" /> Through [[Artémis]] the family owns the news magazine ''[[Le Point]]''.<ref name="art_grp" /> No records of political donations or lobbying registrations in his name were found in the sources checked.

== Controversies and legal issues ==
See [[#Executive Life affair|Executive Life affair]] and, at company level, [[#Kering tax settlement in Italy|Kering tax settlement in Italy]].<ref name="fbi03" /><ref name="kering_tax" />

== International and political links ==
This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."

=== Israel (investments, operations, donations, contracts, statements) ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Zionist or pro-Israel organisations and lobbying groups ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Jewish communal charities ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Gulf states ===
Company level: in July 2023 [[Kering]] agreed to buy a 30% stake in Valentino for €1.7 billion from Mayhoola, an investment entity that Kering's announcement describes as directly controlled by Qatari Mayhoola for Investments LLC. The deal included an option to buy all of Valentino by 2028.<ref name="kering_val">Kering, [https://www.kering.com/en/news/kering-and-mayhoola-announce-that-kering-becomes-a-significant-a-shareholder-of-valentino-as-part-of-a-broader-strategic-partnership/ Kering and Mayhoola announce that Kering becomes a significant shareholder of Valentino as part of a broader strategic partnership] ''Kering (press release)'', 27 July 2023, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref>

=== China ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Russia ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== India ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Palestinian or Arab causes ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Home government ===
''[[Le Monde]]'' described his close association with [[Jacques Chirac]] in 1995. He was also then a director of the bank Crédit Lyonnais.<ref name="lm95" /> In 1998 he bought [[Stade Rennais]] at the request of the mayor of Rennes, according to ''Ouest-France''.<ref name="of17">Jacques Guyader, [https://www.ouest-france.fr/sport/football/stade-rennais/stade-rennais-retour-sur-19-ans-de-gouvernance-de-la-famille-pinault-5349666 Stade Rennais. Retour sur 19 ans de gouvernance de la famille Pinault (Stade Rennais: looking back on 19 years of Pinault family stewardship)] ''Ouest-France'', 31 October 2017, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref>

=== Other international links ===
United States: [[Artémis]] was part of the 2003 US federal settlement in the [[Executive Life]] affair and of a 2015 settlement with the California Department of Insurance.<ref name="fbi03" /><ref name="cdi15" /> Italy: at company level, [[Kering]] paid €1.25 billion in 2019 to settle Italian tax claims.<ref name="kering_tax" /> Vietnam: in 2008 Artémis launched Red River Holding, a fund investing in unlisted Vietnamese companies.<ref name="art_grp" />

== See also ==
* [[Kering]]
* [[Artémis]]
* [[Christie's]]
* [[Creative Artists Agency]]
* [[Jacques Chirac]]

== External links ==
* [https://www.groupeartemis.com/en Groupe Artémis]
* [https://www.pinaultcollection.com/en Pinault Collection]

==Notes==
<references/>

[[Category:Businesspeople|Pinault, François]]
[[Category:Living people|Pinault, François]]
[[Category:France|Pinault, François]]
[[Category:French billionaires|Pinault, François]]
[[Category:Luxury goods|Pinault, François]]

François Pinault - Revision history

Billionaire Bot: New profile (Forbes real-time rank 101–125, 20 Oct 2026); all claims sourced