How Luxury Groups Built Their Jewelry Portfolios

The big European luxury groups built their jewelry businesses mainly by buying established houses rather than creating new ones. Richemont owns Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Buccellati and Vhernier; LVMH added Bulgari in 2011 and Tiffany & Co. in 2021 to Chaumet and Fred; and Kering, formerly PPR, owns Boucheron, Pomellato, DoDo and Qeelin. Alongside outright purchases, the groups have at times taken minority stakes in independent designers, such as Richemont’s 2004 investment in New York jeweler Mimi So.

The portfolios at a glance

Group	Jewelry houses	Key deals	Scale
Richemont	Buccellati, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Vhernier	Van Cleef & Arpels 60% (1999), 100% (2003); Buccellati (2019); Vhernier (2024)	Jewellery Maisons sales €16.5 billion, year to March 2026
LVMH	Bulgari, Tiffany & Co., Chaumet, Fred (plus watch brands in the same division)	Bulgari (2011); Tiffany (2021)	Watches & Jewelry revenue €10.5 billion in 2025
Kering	Boucheron, Pomellato, DoDo, Qeelin	Boucheron via Gucci Group (2000); Qeelin (announced 2012); Pomellato and DoDo (2013)	Not reported separately

Scale figures are from Richemont’s FY2026 results and LVMH’s 2025 results. Kering reports its jewelry houses inside a wider “Other Houses” segment.

Richemont: jewelry at the core

Of the three, Richemont depends most on jewelry. In the year to March 31, 2026, its four Jewellery Maisons sold €16.5 billion of a group total of €22.4 billion, roughly three-quarters, with an operating margin of 30.5 percent. Its Specialist Watchmakers earned a 3.4 percent margin in the same year.

Van Cleef & Arpels

On May 12, 1999, Richemont announced a 60 percent interest in Van Cleef & Arpels, founded in 1906, in a deal that valued the house at about SFr460 million. The Italian group Fingen took 20 percent and members of the Arpels family kept 20 percent. Van Cleef then had eight stores in France, the United States, Switzerland, Monaco and the UK, plus 34 exclusive boutiques, mainly in Asia. In January 2003 Richemont announced that it had bought the remaining 20 percent.

Buccellati and Vhernier

Two Italian houses followed much later. In September 2019 Richemont bought 100 percent of Buccellati, founded in Milan in 1919 by Mario Buccellati, from the privately held conglomerate Gangtai Group. Chairman Johann Rupert described it as complementary to the group’s existing jewelers in style, origins and craftsmanship. In May 2024 Richemont agreed to acquire all of Vhernier, founded in Valenza in 1984 and owned by the Traglio family since 2001; it said the deal would have no material financial impact.

LVMH: two very large deals

Bulgari, 2011

LVMH’s March 7, 2011 announcement was built on a share exchange. The Bulgari family, majority owners of the house Sotirio Bulgari founded in 1884, contributed about 152.5 million Bulgari shares, roughly 50.43 percent of the company, in exchange for about 16.5 million new LVMH shares, becoming LVMH’s second-largest family shareholder. The technical terms valued each Bulgari share at €12.25, a 59.4 percent premium over the March 3 closing price, and LVMH offered the same €12.25 in cash to minority shareholders. Bulgari’s chief executive, Francesco Trapani, was named to run LVMH’s enlarged watch and jewelry business, which then included TAG Heuer, Chaumet, Zenith, Hublot, Fred and De Beers.

Tiffany & Co., 2021

LVMH agreed in November 2019 to buy Tiffany for $135 a share, about $16.2 billion, which Fortune called the largest luxury-goods deal ever. The two companies later fell into litigation in the Delaware Chancery Court. In October 2020 they agreed a revised price of $131.50 a share in cash and settled the case. LVMH completed the purchase on January 7, 2021, saying the 1837 New York jeweler would “deeply transform” its Watches & Jewelry division.

That division’s revenue was €10.5 billion in 2025, about 13 percent of LVMH’s €80.8 billion total. It now comprises Bulgari, TAG Heuer, Tiffany & Co., Chaumet, Zenith, Fred, Hublot and l’Epée, so the figure includes watches as well as jewelry.

Kering: building out from Boucheron

Kering’s jewelry business began with Gucci Group’s purchase of Boucheron in 2000, before PPR took near-complete control of Gucci Group in 2004. In December 2012 PPR announced a majority stake in Qeelin, a brand founded in 2004 by designer Dennis Chan and Guillaume Brochard that draws on Chinese symbols, according to FashionUnited; terms were not disclosed. In April 2013 the group, by then trading as Kering, agreed to buy a majority stake in Pomellato, whose two brands, Pomellato and the more accessible DoDo, had 2012 revenue of €146 million and 86 mono-brand stores. The deal closed in July 2013. In its 2025 results, Kering said its jewelry houses were expanding, led by double-digit growth at Boucheron.

Why groups buy jewelry houses

The groups’ own announcements give their reasons fairly consistently.

Motive	What the buyer said	Deal
Growth in a fragmented market	Jewelry and watches showed attractive growth and profits while the market stayed fragmented	Gucci Group and Boucheron, 2000
Profitability	Richemont’s jewelers earn a 30.5% operating margin against 3.4% for its watchmakers (FY2026)	Richemont portfolio
Heritage that can’t be built quickly	Buccellati’s heritage, craftsmanship and family spirit, and its fit with the existing houses	Richemont and Buccellati, 2019
Purchasing and distribution synergies	Bulgari’s chief executive expected notable synergies, especially in purchasing and distribution	LVMH and Bulgari, 2011
Group resources	Pomellato would gain Kering’s expertise in real estate, distribution, media and brand management	Kering and Pomellato, 2013
Retail control	Plans to open directly operated stores in key luxury markets	Gucci Group and Boucheron, 2000

Ownership also shapes distribution. In Richemont’s 2026 fiscal year, its directly operated boutiques produced 71 percent of group sales and wholesale 23 percent, down from 24 percent the year before. For independent retailers that stock group brands, wholesale is the smaller channel.

Partnerships with independent designers

Not every move is an outright purchase. In January 2004 Richemont confirmed, as WWD reported on January 12, that it had taken a stake in Mimi So, a New York jewelry designer who had launched her company in 1993. Neither side disclosed the size of the investment; So told WWD that Richemont held a minority stake and that she remained the majority owner. Richemont’s group vice president of marketing, Ed McQuigg, said the group would set no immediate sales or profit targets and described it as a brand-building exercise. At the time So had a store at 580 Fifth Avenue, sold through 15 Neiman Marcus doors and planned a store in Tokyo. WWD compared the move to Tiffany & Co.’s 2003 stake in designer Temple St. Clair.

A minority stake lets a group back a young brand’s growth without taking it over, while the founder keeps majority ownership, as So did. Buccellati and Vhernier show the other route: buying an established house outright.

Common questions

Who owns Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels? Both belong to Richemont, which owns 100 percent of Van Cleef & Arpels after buying out the last 20 percent in 2003.

Does LVMH own Tiffany? Yes. LVMH completed its acquisition of Tiffany & Co. on January 7, 2021, at $131.50 a share.

Which group owns Boucheron? Kering. Boucheron joined Gucci Group in 2000, and Gucci Group became part of PPR, now Kering.