Francois Pinault

Francois Pinault (born August 21, 1936, in Champs Géraux, Côtes-du-Nord, France) is a French businessman and art collector who built a retail empire known for its high-end items. Francois Pinault began his career working for his father's wood company before founding Société Pinault, a lumber and construction products enterprise, in 1963 (reorganized as Pinault SA in 1988). Pinault founded Pinault-Printemps-Redoute in 1994 after buying department retailer Au Printemps SA and mail-order firm La Redoute (renamed PPR in 2005). He added a diverse group of companies through his holding company, Artémis SA (established in 1992). Pinault's purchase of a roughly 30% investment in Christie's, the British auction house, in 1998 signified his turn toward high-end brands—and confirmed his interest in art.

After obtaining a majority share in the company in 1992, Francois Pinault developed luxury goods merchant Gucci Group NV into a premium-brand conglomerate. His American interests included Samsonite baggage and a ski resort in Vail, Colorado. Pinault was also an enthusiastic art collector, having amassed over 3,000 works by the early twenty-first century. After failing to create a museum in France, Pinault purchased the Palazzo Grassi in Venice in 2005 and began exhibiting a small portion of his collection there the following year, including pieces by Cindy Sherman and Jeff Koons.

Net worth: $40 billion

Country: France