Who owns Hermes? Billionaire heir set to adopt and leave half of massive fortune to former gardener

Nicolas Puech, an 80-year-old billionaire descended from the Hermes luxury handbag dynasty, is rumored to be attempting to adopt his 51-year-old former gardener and leave him half of his billionaire assets. The childless billionaire is reportedly planning to end an agreement of succession he had established with the Isocrates Foundation, a charity founded by Puech himself.

Nicolas Puech is a fifth-generation descendant of the founder of the Hermes luxury design house, Thierry Hermès, who established the iconic luxury brand in 1837. The majority of the shares in the luxury handbag company (54.3%) are owned by the Hermès family, through their holding company, H51. Meanwhile, the estranged Puech holds a 5.7% share in the company.

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Nicolas Puech and his somber statement to Hermes and the Isocrates Foundation

In December 2023, French luxury design house, Hermes was declared by Bloomberg as "Europe’s Biggest Family Fortune". The Hermes family had gone through a corporate battle against LVMH owners, the Arnault family from acquiring the majority shares in their beloved company.

Nicolas Puech, an 80-year-old fifth-generation descendant of Hermes, resigned from the premium design house's supervisory board in 2014 due to family issues. The resignation came amidst LVMH owner, Benedict Arnalt's attempts to spearhead a campaign to acquire majority shares in the luxury handbag maker that began back in 2010.

However, LVMH's serious attempt was choked out in 2017, when the 70 family descendants of the brand clubbed together to form a holding company, successfully maintaining majority shares in the luxury design house. The family now owns 54.3% of the shares in the company, according to Bloomberg.

LVMH still has a 20% stake in the company. Nicolas Puech on the other hand, did not offer his 5.7% share up to the family holding company. According to the Telegraph, Puech's financial manager and friend, Éric Freymond had reportedly played a prominent role in advancing the sale of Hermes shares to LVMH.

Eric Freymond was also a board member of the Isocrates Foundation. The Isocrates Foundation, established in 2011 by Nicolas Puech, is an "independent philanthropic foundation," established for the "protection and promotion of public debate". The foundation states:

"The Foundation funds and supports public interest journalism and media organizations committed to strengthening the field of investigative journalism and the production of independent quality information, as well as civil society organizations working towards responsible digitalization and a healthy digital public space."

Freymond retired from the foundation's board back in September of this year. Now in yet another unprecedented move, the Swiss media outlet, Tribune de Genève, reported that Nicolas Puech planned to cut funding to the charity and terminate the "succession agreement" he had signed with the organization.

According to the media outlet, this is because the millionaire has chosen to adopt his 51-year-old Moroccan-born handyman and former gardener, who is married with two children. The billionaire even allegedly refers to the gardener as his "son". He has reportedly begun the adoption proceedings and also planned to leave the gardener, half his wealth.

The move received staunch opposition from the Isocrates Foundation, who said, in a statement, quoted by the Guardian:

"From a legal standpoint, the abrupt and unilateral annulment of a succession agreement appears void and unfounded."

It added:

"The foundation has opposed this move, while leaving the door open to discussion with its founder and president."

Hermes commands a stupendous market value of 209 billion euros. This means that Puech's 5.7 % shares in the company are worth almost 12 billion Euros. Nicolas Puech could potentially leave his former gardener and potential son with almost 6 billion Euros.