Your Survival Guy has personally witnessed the economy-defying success of Hermès. As Tara Patel and Angelina Rascouet explain at Bloomberg, Hermès has enjoyed four record-breaking years in a row while “the maker of pricey leather handbags and silk scarves rode an industry boom and is now defying a slump.” They write:
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.
The Hermes family’s wealth is estimated at $213.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, derived from the Paris-listed company whose stock price has more than tripled since the start of 2021, when pandemic lockdowns around the world began driving a surge in luxury shopping. Hermes market capitalization briefly touched €300 billion ($313 billion) after 2024 results were announced Feb. 14.
While the clan is Europe’s richest, and Hermes has been described as being “in a league of their own” in the luxury sector, LVMH founder Bernard Arnault, 75, remains the richest individual in France, with a fortune of $196.2 billion, according to Bloomberg’s wealth index.
The windfall for the descendants of harness maker Thierry Hermes, who started a workshop in 1837, comes more than a decade after they nearly lost control of the company to Arnault, who had stealthily accumulated a stake through LVMH. It also coincides with moves to diversify some of their expanding wealth away from luxury through family office Krefeld Invest.
Action Line: Like the descendants of Thierry Hermès, focus on maximizing your dividends. When you want to talk about dividend-paying stocks in your portfolio, email me at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com. In the meantime, click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
