Antoine Arnault to head Christian Dior SE

Antoine Arnault, LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault's eldest son, was on Friday named chief executive of family holding company Christian Dior SE, replacing veteran executive Sidney Toledano, Reuters reported.

Christian Dior is a listed company that owns the bulk of the Arnault family's stake in LVMH, the world's largest luxury group.

The move raises the stature of 45-year-old Antoine, one of Arnault's five children, all of whom hold senior positions in LVMH, the group behind fashion houses Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, as well as labels ranging from champagne to five-star hotels.

At LVMH, Antoine Arnault, a business school graduate and a board member since 2006, oversees the group's communications and environmental issues, driving efforts to shore up its reputation.

He is married to Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova, and often makes presentations on the group's environmental efforts and hosts events such as public tours of workshops and factories.

LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault, 73, has not publicly named his successor to lead the sprawling luxury empire he built through acquisitions starting with Christian Dior.

Bernard Arnault and his family briefly took the title as the world's richest earlier this week, but were back at No. 2, behind Elon Musk, with a personal wealth of $185.3 billion, according to Forbes.