LVMH looks to sell its stake in Rihanna's Fenty Beauty for about $2 billion

LVMH is exploring the sale of its 50 percent stake in Fenty Beauty, the cosmetics brand co-owned with Rihanna, as part of the largest portfolio reset in the French luxury conglomerate's nearly 40-year history, the Financial Times reported this week.

The stake, which JPMorgan analysts have valued at between 1.5 billion and 2.5 billion euros, is among several assets the group is reviewing for potential disposal as softer global demand and rising costs put pressure on the world's largest luxury company. Also under consideration for sale are Marc Jacobs, the American fashion label LVMH has controlled since 1997, the beauty brands Make Up For Ever and Fresh, Joseph Phelps Vineyards, and the rum label Eminente.

The shift is a significant strategic reversal. LVMH has spent three decades building one of the most extensive luxury brand portfolios ever assembled through aggressive acquisition, paying $16 billion for Tiffany in 2021 and acquiring dozens of smaller houses over the years. The decision to explore disposals, even partial ones, reflects how materially the market environment has changed since LVMH's peak years.

The group's first quarter 2026 results set the context. Revenue fell 6 percent year on year to 19.1 billion euros, with the fashion and leather goods division, the profit engine anchored by Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, contracting 2 percent. Organic growth across the group came in at just 1 percent, slightly below analyst expectations. LVMH's leadership has cited weaker consumer spending in China and the United States as the primary pressures, with geopolitical instability in the Middle East, a region that has historically been a strong luxury market, adding roughly one percentage point of lost organic growth through store closures and reduced tourist traffic.

Bernard Arnault has signalled he wants to concentrate resources on the group's crown jewels: Vuitton, Dior, Bulgari, Sephora and Hennessy. The brands under review are those that consume management attention and capital without contributing proportionally to group earnings. Fenty Beauty occupies an unusual position on that list. The brand launched in 2017 with a 40-shade foundation range that disrupted the cosmetics industry and generated enormous commercial momentum in its early years. LVMH acquired its 50 percent stake in 2019 in what was described as a co-ownership model intended to provide global distribution infrastructure while Rihanna retained creative control.

The partnership's commercial results have not matched the ambition of that framing. Fenty Beauty's revenue growth slowed as the initial impact of the 40-shade disruption was absorbed by competitors who matched it. The brand has continued to launch products, most recently expanding into India in early 2026 through a Reliance Retail distribution partnership, but it has not become the dominant global force that the early projections implied. The gap between brand recognition and commercial scale has been the persistent challenge.

Rihanna holds the other 50 percent. If LVMH proceeds with a sale of its stake, the buyer would be acquiring a co-ownership position alongside one of the most recognisable names in global entertainment and business, in a brand with strong consumer recognition and an established distribution footprint. That combination gives the asset genuine value despite the headwinds facing the luxury beauty category more broadly.

Rihanna's net worth is estimated at approximately $1.4 billion, with Fenty Beauty the primary driver. The LVMH stake review, if it leads to a sale, would require Rihanna to either participate in the transaction through her own stake, exercise any rights of first refusal she may hold in the partnership agreement, or accept a new co-ownership partner chosen by LVMH. None of those scenarios have been publicly addressed by either Rihanna or LVMH since the FT report was published.

LVMH declined to comment on the reports. Talks are described as exploratory rather than advanced.