LVMH puts Stéphane Bianchi at the helm of watch business

LVMH reshuffles watchmaking business management. The French luxury group has appointed Stéphane Bianchi, former chief executive officer at Yves Rocher, as new head of its watch division effective November. He replaced Jean-Claude Biver, who left his operational duties earlier this week.

As part of the management changes, LVMH has also named Frédéric Arnault as strategy and digital director of Tag Heuer. He joined the brand in September 2017 as head of connected technologies. Bianchi will lead the Tag Heuer business, with the chief executive officers of Hublot and Zenith reporting to him.

LVMH ended fiscal 2017 with an operational profit of 8.29 billion euros, up 18%. The company’s turnover reached 42.63 billion euros, 13% more than in the previous year. The company, spearheaded by Bernard Arnault, doubled its debt during the period with a net debt of 7.18 billion euros.