Franuis Pinault

Franauis Pinault is the Founder at Groupe Artemis. He is also an Angel Investor. He is a Founder of Groupe Artemis. He is the major shareholder and Honorary Chairman of the retail company Kering. He also serves as Chairman at Christie's. He is the owner of fashion brands like Gucci, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen and Yves Saint Laurent. He started his first business in the timber trade in 1963 in Rennes. In 1988, he floated Pinault S.A. on the stock exchange and progressively steered the company's business towards specialised retail. In 1992, Franois Pinault founded Artemis, designed as a vehicle to invest in high-growth potential companies in completely different sectors from those of Pinault-Printemps-Redoute. PPR entered the luxury market in 1999 when it acquired an equity interest in Gucci Group. In 2003, Franois Pinault handed over the reins of his company to his son, Franois-Henri Pinault, who subsequently became Chairman of Artmis. Franois Pinault is one of the top contemporary art collectors in the world. In order to share some of his collection with the public, he set up two unique exhibition sites in Venice (Italy), the Palazzo Grassi and the Punta della Dogana.