Kering S.A. () is a French multinational holding company specializing in luxury goods, headquartered in Paris. It owns the brands Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Creed, Maui Jim, and Alexander McQueen.
The timber-trading company Pinault S.A. was founded in 1962, by François Pinault. After the company was quoted on Euronext Paris in 1988, it became the retail conglomerate Pinault-Printemps-Redoute ( PPR) in 1994. The luxury group was rebranded Kering in 2013. It has been a constituent of the CAC 40 since 1995. François-Henri Pinault has been President and CEO of Kering since 2005. In June 2025, Luca de Meo was appointed CEO starting in September 2025, replacing François-Henri Pinault who will remain Chairman of the group.
History
Timber (1962-1988)
In 1962, François Pinault opened the
Établissements Pinault in
Brittany (France) specialized in timber trading with a 100,000 francs loan from the bank.
His business grew rapidly by acquiring many failing local timber operations and building its own import bridges, turning Pinault S.A. into a leading timber trader in France in the 1980s. By 1988, the group owned 180 companies and 33 factories for an annual revenue of 10 billion francs.
Retail (1988-2013)
In 1988, Pinault S.A. was listed on the Paris Stock Exchange and started an era of growth in the retail sector through major acquisitions.
In 1989, Pinault S.A. purchased 20% of CFAO, a French distribution conglomerate active throughout Africa. In 1990, Pinault S.A. and CFAO merged, and François Pinault became head of the newly formed group which acquired
Conforama (French furniture retailer) in 1991,
Printemps (department stores in France) in 1992, which also owned 54% of
La Redoute (French mail-order shopping retailer), and
Fnac (French bookstore, multimedia and electronics retailer) in 1994. The group was renamed Pinault-Printemps-Redoute in 1994.
In 1999, Pinault-Printemps-Redoute purchased a controlling 42% stake of the Gucci group for $3 billion and 100% of Yves Saint Laurent.
In 2003, François-Henri Pinault, son of the founder François Pinault, became general manager of Artémis, the family holding company that controlled Pinault-Printemps-Redoute. In 2005, he was named president and CEO of Pinault-Printemps-Redoute,[ PPR says in talks to sell La Redoute by year-end] PPR developed a Sport & Lifestyle portfolio with the acquisition of Puma in 2007,
Luxury (since 2013)
In March 2013, PPR changed its name to Kering.
The leather-weaver Bottega Veneta was transformed into a "quiet luxury" icon, hitting the billion-dollar mark in sales in 2012.
In 2014, Kering created its own eyewear production arm, Kering Eyewear, growing its revenue to 1.5 billion euros in 2023, and acquired the eyewear brands Lindberg in 2021
and
Maui Jim in 2022.
The traditional Balenciaga house was turned into a disruptive fashion house
and Yves Saint Laurent hit the 2-billion dollar sales mark in 2019.
However, from 2015 to 2022, the group's revenue was essentially driven by Gucci's year-on-year high performance, hitting the 10-billion dollars sales mark in 2022.
The group divested its interests in
Stella McCartney in 2018,
Christopher Kane in 2019,
and its entire watch division (Girard-Perregaux and Ulysse Nardin) in 2022.
[Sudip Kar-Gupta, Mimosa Spencer and Silke Koltrowitz, Luxury goods group Kering to sell watches division, Reuters.com, 24 January 2022]
In 2023, Kering's annual results declined to 19.6 billion (-4%), mainly caused by the deceleration of Gucci's streak, a transition phase according to the group's executives.
Activities
Kering's headquarters are located in the former Hopital Laennec in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. The parent holding company of Kering is Groupe Artémis. In 2024, Kering made 17.2 billion euros in revenue, and managed 47,000 employees and 1,813 stores.
[
]
Kering fully or partially owns the following brands:
Kering also owns Kering Eyewear (luxury eyewear production arm)
Governance
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Chairman and CEO: François-Henri Pinault
Financial data
| + Results (in € millions)
!Year
! 2006
! 2007
! 2008
! 2009
! 2010
! 2011
! 2012
! 2013
! 2014
! 2015
! 2016
! 2017
! 2018
! 2019
! 2020
! 2023
! 2024 |
| Sales | 17 931 | 17 761 | 20 201 | 16 525 | 11 008 | 12 227 | 9 736 | 9 748 | 10 037 | 11 584 | 12 385 | 15 478 | 13 665.2 | 15 883.3 | 13 100.2 | 19 566 | 17 194 |
| Net results | 680 | 1 058 | 924 | 985 | 965 | 986 | 1 048 | 50 | 528.9 | 696 | 814 | 1 786 | 3 714.9 | 3 211.5 | 1 972.2 | 2 983 | 1 133 |
Commitments
The Kering Foundation was created in 2008 to combat violence against women. Kering was one of the first companies to endorse the Women's Empowerment Principles of the UN Women.
See also
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François Pinault
-
François-Henri Pinault
-
Groupe Artémis
External links
-
-
Kering – Annuaire des Entreprises
