logo
Hermes in ‘League of Their Own' as Family Gets $5 Billion Payout

Hermes in ‘League of Their Own' as Family Gets $5 Billion Payout

Bloomberg19-02-2025
By and Angelina Rascouet
Save
The French family behind Hermes International SCA is on track to pocket more than $5 billion in dividends for a series of four record-breaking years, when the maker of pricey leather handbags and silk scarves rode an industry boom and is now defying a slump.
Some 100 heirs to the luxury fortune, who control just over two thirds of Hermes shares, have benefited from rapidly rising payouts including this year's biggest ever. The company reported a jump in fourth-quarter revenue while rivals LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE and Gucci-owner Kering SA recorded declines.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Credit Agricole raises Banco BPM stake to 20.1% with derivatives
Credit Agricole raises Banco BPM stake to 20.1% with derivatives

Yahoo

time13 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Credit Agricole raises Banco BPM stake to 20.1% with derivatives

MILAN (Reuters) -French bank Credit Agricole has acquired a further 0.3% of Banco BPM via derivatives, raising its stake in Italy's third-biggest bank to 20.1%, a regulatory filing showed on Monday. The stake increase comes after Italy's UniCredit last month dropped its takeover bid for BPM after running into government opposition and failing to persuade Credit Agricole to tender its stake in BPM under the offer. Credit Agricole, a long-standing commercial partner of BPM, emerged as its single biggest shareholder in early 2022, after an earlier aborted takeover plan by UniCredit. Credit Agricole doubled its stake in December after UniCredit bid for BPM. UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel, a veteran investment banker, said he could not afford to let his bank be sidelined in a round of consolidation sweeping Italian banking. Echoing comments made when it first said it would raise its BPM stake just above 20%, Credit Agricole said on Monday it would not seek to acquire control of BPM and would keep its stake under a mandatory takeover threshold. The threshold in BPM's case stands at 25% and sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters last week that Credit Agricole planned to eventually get to just below 25%. Credit Agricole also said it would not seek changes to BPM's board of directors. After securing European Central Bank authorisation to cross the 10% ownership threshold in BPM, which allowed it to increase its initial stake, Credit Agricole is now awaiting ECB approval to go above 20%. It would then be able to convert the derivative contracts into shares. It has said it then intends to book the BPM stake under an accounting method reserved for significant shareholders, which allows investors to more closely benefit from the performance of the company they have invested in. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Shein Fined 40 Million Euros for Fake Discounts by French Competition Authority
Shein Fined 40 Million Euros for Fake Discounts by French Competition Authority

Yahoo

time2 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Shein Fined 40 Million Euros for Fake Discounts by French Competition Authority

PARIS – France is continuing to take aim at Shein, this time from another angle. The ultra-fast fashion giant has been fined a record 40 million euros by the France's anti-trust authority, the French Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud (DGCCRF). More from WWD Nouvel Héritage Marks 10-year Anniversary With Debut High Jewelry Collection Maison&Objet's Managing Director Mélanie Leroy Resigns Shein's Donald Tang Makes His Case in France, as Company's Sustainability Report Shows Rising Emissions The authority claimed that the Singapore-based Chinese brand's pricing practices were deceptive, offering customers 'discounts' which didn't exist. The DGCCRF alleged that Shein would raise prices before lowering them to appear as if they were giving customers a good deal. It follows a nearly year-long investigation by the DGCCRF which found that Shein had misled customers between October 2022 and August 2023. The authority found that 57 percent of Shein promotions did not represent a lower price; 19 percent offered discounts smaller than advertised, and 11 percent were price increases disguised as sales. The findings are based on French regulations that require any advertised discount must reference the lowest price offered by the seller in the previous 30 days. Investigators found that Shein repeatedly broke this rule, inflating original prices before applying discounts or referencing prices that were not valid. In a statement to Agence France Presse, the company said that its French subsidiary, Infinite Style E-commerce Limited (ISEL), had been notified of the violations in March 2023, and taken corrective measures within two months. 'This means that all identified issues were addressed more than a year ago,' the company said, emphasizing its commitment to regulatory compliance in France. Shein has been under scrutiny in France. In June, the French Senate passed a bill targeting Shein and other 'ultra-fast fashion' players, including Temu, by proposing a tax on small parcels shipped from outside the European Union ranging from 2 to 4 euros per package. The fee is intended to slow the influx of packages from Chinese platforms to France. In 2024, Shein and Temu together shipped 800 million packages to France — more than half of all parcels sent to the country. A few days later, Shein executive chair Donald Tang took to the stage at Paris' VivaTech conference to defend the company's business model. During his appearance, he said Shein is 'not fast fashion;' instead it is 'fashion-on-demand' and only produces what the market wants. The bill needs to be validated by the EU, then will return to the Assembly where a stronger version passed in 2024, for a reconciliation process and final vote. That is expected to take place around October. Best of WWD Pandemic Has Stoked Appetite for French Luxury, Survey Finds U.S. Sets Strategic Vision for China Trade Policy Furmark's Farm-to-Shopfloor Tracing Tags Set for International Debut Solve the daily Crossword

Why The Dollar's Reserve Status May Be America's Biggest Liability
Why The Dollar's Reserve Status May Be America's Biggest Liability

Forbes

time2 hours ago

  • Forbes

Why The Dollar's Reserve Status May Be America's Biggest Liability

The dollar is the global reserve currency. This has long been called the 'exorbitant privilege'. It's considered a huge advantage for the U.S. that the dollar holds this status – or so the story goes. But wait! This sacred cow might not be such a blessing after all. Perhaps the U.S. dollar's 'exorbitant privilege' is actually an exorbitant curse. Firstly, with my tongue firmly in cheek – and with a desire to engage U.S. readers and give them at least a chance to agree with what I'm about to propose – let me point out that the term 'exorbitant privilege' is actually French in origin. That alone might suggest it's not such a brilliant idea after all. Second, consider this: in dollar terms, there are now twice as many Chinese yuan (using M2 as the measure) as there are U.S. dollars. One could say that China has twice the money of the U.S. – which translates to twice the money for four times the people, or half the money per capita compared to Americans. Still, you might wonder: if they have all that liquidity, why don't they want to be the global reserve currency? Let's examine this 'privilege'. Sure, having the global reserve currency allows you to throw your weight around. And yes, you can always print more 'confetti' if you run into a balance-of-payments problem. Printing reserve currency essentially gives you money for nothing – which is nice. But… You also have to export your money to buy stuff. Otherwise, the world must either abandon your currency as the global standard or suffer a liquidity crisis because there's not enough of your money circulating through the system. Here's the rub: exporting money to buy imports requires a persistent balance-of-payments deficit – the very thing former President Trump tried to reverse. Back when the U.S. was running the world after 1946, flush with wealth while Europe was busy destroying itself, this deficit wasn't such a big deal. But as time goes on, and more and more dollars flow out while more and more goods come in, the country starts hollowing itself out. That 'confetti' comes back home in the hands of the folk who sold you stuff, and they use it to buy up your assets. Eventually, all you produce is confetti, and all you own is a printing press. That should sound familiar. A nation that consistently profits from trade has both assets and liabilities on its balance sheet. But a country that constantly prints confetti to fund imports ends up with nothing but liabilities – and a worn-out printing press. Let's look at this chart: It's a 15+ year chart showing how the U.S. dollar has risen 20-25% against the euro and the pound, and nearly doubled against the yen. This dollar strength isn't due to the U.S. running a balanced economy, a responsible government budget, or following sound financial discipline. No – this strength is a byproduct of the dollar's status as the world's reserve currency. That reserve status allows the U.S. to run up enormous debt and massive trade deficits, gradually hollowing out its economy from within. The so-called 'exorbitant privilege' has allowed the U.S. to dissolve into luxury. But – as people like to say these days – it's not sustainable. Woe, thrice woe, if the U.S. loses its global reserve status. So what? Europe doesn't need it. China doesn't want it. Japan isn't asking for it. So what are the actual benefits? So is being the global reserve currency a privilege or a curse? Like all mechanisms, when taken to extremes, what begins as a benefit can become a poison. Given the scale of the U.S.'s deficits, the patient may already be poisoned. The policy of maintaining the dollar's global reserve status may persist, may fade, or may be abandoned. But its role as a channel for economic dissipation is nearing its end, as the sustainability of chronic, rolling deficits is now visibly hitting its limits. Meanwhile, China doesn't want to be the global reserve currency – even though it could be. Their reasoning is simple: they want to keep exporting goods, take your confetti, and turn around and buy up assets in your country. Eventually, they own all the good stuff. If you do this with land, you're called colonial; if you do it with productive assets, you're called rich. As long as the sacred cow of the dollar's global reserve status roams the earth, the U.S. will continue selling off its family silver so its people can fill their double garages with plastic junk – believing this "exorbitant privilege" is a blessing, when in reality, it may be the curse that undoes them.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store