Kering S.A. () is a French multinational

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

specializing in

luxury goods In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good (economics), good for which demand (economics), demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a more significant proportion of ove ...

, headquartered in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. It owns the brands Yves Saint Laurent,

Gucci Guccio Gucci S.p.A., doing business as Gucci ( , ), is an Italian Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Florence. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and ...

Balenciaga Balenciaga SA ( , , ) is a Spanish Basque luxury fashion house currently headquartered in Paris. It designs, manufactures and markets ready-to-wear footwear, handbags, and accessories, and licenses its name and branding to the American cosmeti ...

Bottega Veneta Bottega Veneta S.r.l () is an Italian luxury fashion house based in Milan, Italy. Its product lines include ready-to-wear, handbags, shoes, accessories, jewellery and fragrances. Bottega Veneta is headquartered in Milan, Italy, with its main at ...

Creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) which summarizes its core tenets. Many Christian denominations use three creeds ...

Maui Jim Maui Jim is an American sunglasses manufacturer based in Peoria, Illinois. Founded in Lahaina, Hawaii, in 1980, the company designs, develops, and manufactures a wide variety of sunglasses marketed under the eponymous brand name. As of 2015, it ...

, and

Alexander McQueen Lee Alexander McQueen (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen (brand), Alexander McQueen label in 1992 and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His ac ...

. The timber-trading company Pinault S.A. was founded in 1962, by

François Pinault François Pinault (born 21 August 1936) is a French billionaire businessman, founder of the luxury group Kering and the investment holding company Artémis. Pinault started his business in the timber industry in the early 1960s. Taken public i ...

. After the company was quoted on

Euronext Paris Euronext Paris, formerly known as the Paris Bourse (), is a regulated securities trading venue in France. It is Europe's second largest stock exchange by market capitalization, behind the London Stock Exchange, as of December 2023. As of 2022, th ...

in 1988, it became the retail conglomerate Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (''PPR'') in 1994. The luxury group was rebranded Kering in 2013. It has been a constituent of the

CAC 40 The CAC 40 () () is a Benchmark (computing), benchmark French stock market index. The index represents a capitalization-weighted measure of the 40 most significant stocks among the 100 largest market capitalization, market caps on the Euronext Pa ...

since 1995. In June 2025, the company appointed

Luca de Meo Luca de Meo (born 13 June 1967) is an Italian automotive executive who is the former CEO of Renault Group. On June 15, 2025, it was announced that he will leave Renault to take over the leadership of the Kering group. Early life and education B ...

as its new chief executive beginning 15 September 15 2025, replacing

François-Henri Pinault François-Henri Pinault (; born 28 May 1962) is a French businessman, the son of billionaire François Pinault. François-Henri took the reins of his father's retail conglomerate Pinault-Printemps-Redoute in 2005, and turned it into the luxury ...

who had been President and CEO of Kering since 2005. Pinault will remain Chairman of the board. In 2024, the group's revenue reached €17.2 billion.

History

Timber (1962-1988)

In 1962,

opened the ''Établissements Pinault'' in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

(France) specialized in timber trading with a 100,000 francs loan from the bank. His business grew rapidly by acquiring many failing local timber operations and building its own import bridges, turning Pinault S.A. into a leading timber trader in France in the 1980s. By 1988, the group owned 180 companies and 33 factories for an annual revenue of 10 billion francs.

Retail (1988-2013)

In 1988, Pinault S.A. was listed on the

Paris Stock Exchange Euronext Paris, formerly known as the Paris Bourse (), is a regulated securities trading venue in France. It is Europe's second largest stock exchange by market capitalization, behind the London Stock Exchange, as of December 2023. As of 2022, th ...

and started an era of growth in the retail sector through major acquisitions. In 1989, Pinault S.A. purchased 20% of CFAO, a French distribution conglomerate active throughout Africa. In 1990, Pinault S.A. and CFAO merged, and François Pinault became head of the newly formed group which acquired

Conforama Conforama is Europe's second-largest home furnishings retail chain with over 200 stores in France, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Luxembourg, Italy, and Croatia. History and ownership In the early 1960s, Pierre and Guy Sordoillet, Jean Moll ...

(French furniture retailer) in 1991,

Printemps Printemps is a French luxury department store chain founded in 1865, which focuses on beauty, lifestyle, fashion and accessories. The flagship store "le Printemps Haussmann" is located on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Pari ...

(department stores in France) in 1992, which also owned 54% of

La Redoute La Redoute is a French multi channel retailer founded by Joseph Pollet in 1837. La Redoute specialises in ready to wear apparel and home decor, La Redoute is the 2nd largest seller of women's apparel and the 3rd largest seller of linens in Fr ...

(French mail-order shopping retailer), and

Fnac Fnac () is a French multinational retail chain specializing in the sale of entertainment Media (communication), media and consumer electronics. Fnac was founded by André Essel and Max Théret in 1954. Its headquarters is located in ''Le Flavia' ...

(French bookstore, multimedia and electronics retailer) in 1994. The group was renamed Pinault-Printemps-Redoute in 1994. In 1999, Pinault-Printemps-Redoute purchased a controlling 42% stake of the

Gucci group Guccio Gucci S.p.A., doing business as Gucci ( , ), is an Italian luxury fashion house based in Florence. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and branding to ...

for $3 billion and 100% of Yves Saint Laurent. Those investments marked the cornerstone of the group's shift towards luxury. Through Gucci, Pinault-Printemps-Redoute acquired

Boucheron Boucheron () is a French luxury jewelry and watch house located in Paris, 26 Place Vendôme, owned by Kering. Hélène Poulit-Duquesne has been CEO since 2015 and Claire Choisne creative director since 2011. History At the origins The House ...

in 2000,

in 2001,

in 2001, and signed partnerships with

and

Stella McCartney Stella Nina McCartney (born 13 September 1971) is an English fashion designer. She is a daughter of English singer-songwriter Paul McCartney and American photographer and animals rights activist Linda McCartney. Like her parents, McCartney is ...

. In 2003, François-Henri Pinault, son of the founder François Pinault, became general manager of Artémis, the family holding company that controlled Pinault-Printemps-Redoute. In 2005, he was named president and CEO of Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, a year after the group had reached a 99.4% ownership of

. The group continued acquiring luxury brands: Sowind Group (watch company owner of

Girard-Perregaux Girard-Perregaux SA () is a luxury Swiss watch ''manufacture'' with its origins dating back to 1791. In 2022, then-owner French luxury group Kering sold its stake in Sowind Group SA, the parent company of Girard-Perregaux, via management buyout ...

) and Brioni (Italian tailor) in 2011, Pomellato Group (jewelry company owner of Pomellato and Dodo) and

Qeelin Qeelin is a fine jewellery company established in 2004 in Hong Kong by Dennis Chan and Guillaume Brochard. The brand's products refer to mystical or superstitious symbols strongly embedded in Chinese culture. The name Qeelin comes from the qilin, ...

(jewelry) in 2012, Christopher Kane (British fashion house) and Richard Ginori (porcelain) in 2013, Ulysse Nardin (watches) in 2014. The group also sold its retail assets: Le Printemps in 2006, Conforama in 2011, CFAO in 2012, Fnac in 2012, and La Redoute in 2013. PPR developed a Sport & Lifestyle portfolio with the acquisition of Puma in 2007,

Cobra Golf Cobra Golf is a sports equipment manufacturing company based in Carlsbad, California, focused on golf equipment, producing a wide range of golf clubs. The company is currently a subsidiary of Puma. History Origin The company was founded in ...

in 2010, and

Volcom Volcom was an American lifestyle brand that designed, marketed, and distributed boardsports-oriented products. Volcom is headquartered in Costa Mesa, California. The brand was known for its trademark ''stone'' logo, its slogan ''True to This'', ...

in 2011, all of which were sold the following decade.

Luxury (since 2013)

In March 2013, PPR changed its name to Kering. The leather-weaver Bottega Veneta was transformed into a "quiet luxury" icon, hitting the billion-dollar mark in sales in 2012. In 2014, Kering created its own eyewear production arm, Kering Eyewear, growing its revenue to 1.5 billion euros in 2023, and acquired the eyewear brands

Lindberg Lindberg is a municipality in the district of Regen in Bavaria in Germany in the immediate neighbourhood of the larger town Zwiesel. Location Lindberg lies in the Danube Forest (''Donau-Wald'') region in the middle of the Bavarian Forest on ...

in 2021 and

in 2022. The traditional Balenciaga house was turned into a disruptive fashion house and Yves Saint Laurent hit the 2-billion dollar sales mark in 2019. However, from 2015 to 2022, the group's revenue was essentially driven by Gucci's year-on-year high performance, hitting the 10-billion dollars sales mark in 2022. The group divested its interests in

in 2018, Christopher Kane in 2019, and its entire watch division (Girard-Perregaux and Ulysse Nardin) in 2022. In 2023, Kering's annual results declined to 19.6 billion (-4%), mainly caused by the deceleration of Gucci's streak, a transition phase according to the group's executives. That same year, Kering acquired the fragrance company

, 30% of the fashion house Valentino, and Kering Beauté was launched to manage in-house the development of beauty products for the group's brands.

Activities

Kering's headquarters are located in the former Hopital Laennec in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. The parent holding company of Kering is

Groupe Artémis Groupe Artémis is a French investment holding company, holding with a portfolio in fashion (Kering), wine ( including Château Latour), art (Christie's, Pinault Collection), sports (Stade Rennais FC) and entertainment (Creative Artists Agency). ...

. In 2024, Kering made 17.2 billion euros in revenue, and managed 47,000 employees and 1,813 stores. Kering fully or partially owns the following brands: Kering also owns Kering Eyewear (luxury eyewear production arm) and Kering Beauté (cosmetics division).

Governance

* Chairman and CEO:

Financial data

Commitments

The Kering Foundation was created in 2008 to combat

violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence (GBV) or sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), violent, violence primarily committed by Man, men or boys against woman, women or girls. Such violence is often considered hat ...

. Kering was one of the first companies to endorse the Women's Empowerment Principles of the

UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity charged with working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women is charged with advocating for the righ ...

. Starting in 2019, the Kering Foundation developed actions to combat

violence against children Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, emotional and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...

, making it a pillar of its operations in 2023. In 2015, Kering became an official partner of the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

and launched the diversity program ''Women in Motion'' which was extended to the Rencontres d'Arles photography festival and the Tokyo Film Festival in 2019. In 2015, the group released the environmental profit and loss account (EP&L). Kering launched the Regenerative Fund for Nature in 2021 to finance the transition to

regenerative farming Regenerative agriculture is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems. It focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequestration ...

practices and the Climate Fund for Nature in 2022 to finance

nature conservation Nature conservation is the ethic/moral philosophy and conservation movement focused on protecting species from extinction, maintaining and restoring habitats, enhancing ecosystem services, and protecting biological diversity. A range of values ...

and restoration initiatives. In 2021, Kering announced that all of its fashion brands would phase out fur by the end of 2022. In May 2024, Kering partnered with the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

to create, via the entity's Center for Governance and Sustainability, a tool for measuring the environmental impact of companies in the Asia-Pacific region. This collaboration seeks to establish a benchmark for measuring the impact of the green strategies of major Asia-Pacific companies.

References

External links

*
Kering
– {{Authority control Luxury brand holding companies 2000s fashion 2010s fashion French companies established in 1962 1980s initial public offerings CAC 40 Companies listed on Euronext Paris Companies in the Euro Stoxx 50 Companies based in Paris 7th arrondissement of Paris Holding companies established in 1962 Conglomerate companies of France Watchmaking conglomerates French business families Multinational companies headquartered in France Retail companies of France Pinault family Leather manufacturers