Calling J.R. Ewing.
In the 1980s, Larry Hagman starred as J.R. Ewing in the prime-time soap opera, “Dallas,” which was a series about wayward oil barons, corruption and assorted hanky-panky. In Paris 2010, there is an ongoing saga starring Madame Liliane Bettencourt, the fabulously wealthy 87-year old L’Oreal heiress.
Or perhaps, it is more like Jane Wyman, who starred in a rival soap in the 80s, called Falcon Crest. What started off as a mother-daughter rivalry, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers tried to take back a billion dollar gift her mother made to Francoise-Marie Bonier, suggesting that her mother was no longer capable of handling her own affairs.
Bonier, known as a celebrity photographer, is a companion or a “walker,” a term invented by John Fairchild to refer to men who accompany elderly ladies to events and were good friends. For instance, Truman Capote was referred to as a walker to socialites such as Babe Paley.
At first, rumors speculated Meyers would help enable Nestle, a 30 percent owner of L’Oreal shares, to buy-out Mme Bettencourt’s 31 percent interest. Investment bankers were drooling over the opportunity to get involved either in the sale or breakup of the company. But L’Oreal is considered a crown jewel of France as the world’s largest cosmetic company.
Presently, Mme Bettencourt looks as if she is more than able to handle her affairs as she has become central to numerous scandals, one of which may bring down the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy. There are reports of offshore bank accounts, bribery, tax evasion, and now there is a lawsuit against L’Oreal by stockholders concerning a 10-year $523,000 consultancy for Bonier who gave advice on art and fashion.
Everyday, the “scandal” grows, and the French are comparing it to Watergate, the burglar break-in that brought the Nixon presidency to an end. According to several sources, Nestle has lost interest and does not want to be involved in the highly-charged political brouhaha that is gravitating to L’Oreal itself. Moreover, the independence of L’Oreal may already be guaranteed by the turnaround efforts of Jean-Paul Agon, ceo, whose six-month performance looks good. In the next issue of The Informationist, some of those results will be broken down in an article on L’Oreal’s prestige results in the U.S.
The Bettencourt affair also includes a one hundred million euro gift to Lindsay Owen-Jones, who has been with L’Oreal for more than 40 years. OJ is chairman, and he helped make Mme Bettencourt the richest woman in Europe, certainly a deserving recipient of her gift.
For those of the conspiracy minded mentality, we have butlers taping Bettencourt’s conversations with her financial advisors that suggested overseas banking accounts etc. Included in this so-called affair are payments to government officials as well. From reading about these events, it does not seem Bettencourt needs to be toted off to an asylum named Shady Acres because her mental acuity seems intact.
Could it be that Bettencourt’s daughter planned a coup d’etat as a means to take control of L’Oreal? And if so, who is in cahoots with her? If Nestle is no longer interested in taking control of L’Oreal (following Mme Bettencourt’s death), L’Oreal management could take on debt, sell some assets and acquire stock from both Nestle and Mme Bettencourt to guarantee its independence.
Is this only a tempest in a teapot? It is a very hot summer and speculation is rampant. Apparently, one possible casualty has been claimed as Beatrice Dautresme is leaving the company. She had been an executive v-p of external affairs and a board member.
Having met Dautresme when she was general manager of L’Oreal makeup and hair care at Cosmair in the 1980s, she is a class act. She will be replaced by Sara Ravella from Lafarge, which is an infrastructure supplier to the building industry.