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Oftentimes we see celebrity couples and categorize them as a power couple. Whether both partners are actors, or musicians, or successful in their own ways. Actress Salma Hayek is married to Francois-Henri Pinault , who is the chairman and CEO of Kering, a French luxury goods company. He was recently named one of the 10 most successful CEOs in Europe - here’s why.
Pinault is the son of François Pinault, who is the founder of PPR and one of the wealthiest people in the world. PPR, which stands for Pinault Printemps Redoute, was originally a retail distribution company. Under Pinault’s leadership, PPR was eventually transformed into the luxury fashion group, Kering, according to CEOWORLD magazine.
The 58-year-old CEO began working with his father’s company in 1987, where he was manager of the buying department, then eventually head manager of France Bois Industries in 1989, and then head manager of Pinault Distribution in 1990.
By 2005, Hayek’s husband took over his father’s company and became the president and CEO of PPR. As the newly appointed CEO, Pinault merged PPR with the Gucci group when he bought a controlling stake in the group, according to Forbes.
He went on to expand the group’s portfolio of luxury brands, such as Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Brioni, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen according to CEOWORLD magazine and Oprah Magazine. By 2013, Pinault changed PPR’s name to Kering.
The 58-year-old is not only a successful CEO, but he is very focused on social concerns such as sustainability and women’s right. In 2008, he launched the Kering Foundation to support women’s rights, and two years later he implemented the “environmental profit and loss” accounting method, which was eventually applied to all the brands under the Kering umbrella, according to CEOWORLD magazine.
Pinault has topped many lists including Barron’s 2019 list of “30 Best CEOs in the World.” The CEO and Hayek met and started dating in 2006. The couple had their daughter Valentina together in 2007 and the power couple eventually married in 2009 in Paris, according to Oprah Magazine.
The couple is very private when it comes to their relationship and in an interview with Town & Country, Hayek described her and Pinault’s love story. “It‘s such a romantic, amazing story, but it is mine. I don’t want to vulgarize it by making it into a story to make myself interesting,” the actress said.