On April 19, the WSJ reported "This story profiles the life and career of the world's richest man, Bernard Arnault, and how he built up LVMH and integrated his five children into the business. He drilled his offspring in math when young, assigned them company roles and mentors as adults, then made them joint owners of a firm empowered to run the luxury conglomerate."

• In a nutshell, how did Bernard Arnault become so rich? What was his strategy? Did he grow the firm organically or inorganically?
• What do we learn about the Arnault family? How unified does this family seem to be? What seems unusual about the Arnault family?
• Why is family unity critical to Arnault and LVMH? To what extent has Arnault made family unity the basis of competitive advantage? Is it an advantage or a disadvantage to have five active children in the firm?
• In terms of preparing succession, what grade would you give Bernard Arnault? Has he held on to power for too long? Has he kept his cards secret for too long? Or has he done everything right?