LVMH’s €221 Billion Slump Heaps Pain on Billionaire Arnault (1)

In a conference hall deep under the glass pyramid of Paris’ Louvre Museum, Bernard Arnault was visibly annoyed.

The billionaire chief executive officer of the world’s biggest luxury group is contending with an unprecedented demand slump in China and the threat of steeper US tariffs that have hammered his company’s shares and knocked him from first to ninth among the world’s wealthiest people. But on this April morning, Arnault’s displeasure was directed at the elevator music playing as investors trooped into LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE’s annual general meeting.

“Sorry we have the same music as last year, which I personally don’t find great,” groused the tycoon — a classical pianist. As an uncomfortable laughter ...