Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of Tesla Inc., and Bernard Arnault, the CEO and controlling shareholder of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, had lunch together on Friday in Paris.
During the high-profile gathering, the world’s wealthiest individuals, Elon Musk and Bernard Arnault, with fortunes of $236.9 billion and $233.4 billion respectively, convened for a power lunch at Cheval Blanc, a prestigious hotel chain belonging to LVMH.
According to photographs shared on Antoine’s Instagram account, Bernard Arnault’s sons, Antoine and Alexandre, along with Elon Musk’s mother, Maye, ]were also present at the gathering.
NEWS: Elon Musk and Maye Musk had lunch today in France with Bernard Arnault, founder and CEO of @LVMH. pic.twitter.com/GSWUZTS1aM
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 16, 2023
LVMH, the owner of renowned brands like Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, is a significant advertiser on popular social media platforms including Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. The substantial advertising expenditure by LVMH brands rendered this lunch highly influential for the future of Twitter, as the social media company heavily relies on advertising revenue.
Twitter, once a popular social media platform with a large user base and advertisers, experienced a significant shift when billionaire entrepreneur and visionary Elon Musk assumed ownership and became CEO in 2022.
Musk’s approach to transforming Twitter into a platform for his personal endeavours and viewpoints created divisions among users and advertisers. Many felt that Musk was misusing his power and influence.
Due to concerns about the prevalence of negative and harmful content, including racism, fake information, and right-wing extremism on Twitter following Elon Musk’s assumption of ownership, several multinational brands opted to temporarily halt their advertising campaigns on the platform.
These companies feared that their association with Twitter might expose them to the risks associated with such content. Consequently, Twitter witnessed a decline in advertising revenue and market share.
In an effort to repair the company’s relationship with brands after experiencing a loss of business following his takeover, Elon Musk appointed Linda Yaccarino, a former NBCUniversal ad executive, as the CEO of Twitter.
Following his lunch, Elon Musk delivered a speech at the Viva Technology event in Paris. The event is an annual gathering established by the ad agency Publicis Groupe SA and Les Echos, the economic and financial daily owned by LVMH.
During his appearance at the significant VivaTech trade fair, Elon Musk shared his ambitious goal of implanting neural implants in a human brain within the current year. He also took the opportunity to defend his controversial choice to refrain from implementing censorship measures on Twitter.
