François Pinault

François Pinault is a French billionaire businessman and the founder of Kering, a global luxury group whose brands include Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, and Bottega Veneta. He began his career in the timber trade in the early 1960s and built Pinault SA, which was taken public in 1988 and later renamed Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR). In 2003, he handed management of his companies to his son François-Henri Pinault, who transformed PPR into the luxury-focused Kering in 2013. He also founded the investment holding company Groupe Artémis and is a prominent contemporary art collector with museums in Venice and Paris.