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Francois-Henri worked his way up through several of the family businesses over 15 years, in what amounted to an extended apprenticeship, before his father allowed him to join Artemis in 2001. The two men say that they work closely on decisions but that "it's not a tandem that can last for eternity, because you need only one person in charge," says Francois. Of his son he says, "It's clear he will take the reins." Their biggest challenge now is to earn a return on their $5 billion investment in Gucci at a time of worldwide economic weakness--and to prevent Gucci's star designer Tom Ford and CEO Domenico de Sole from leaving when their contracts expire next year.
Barilla BARILLA GROUP
Soon after selling their century-old pasta firm in the 1970s, the Barillas of PARMA, ITALY, bought it back and have expanded ever since. An Iowa plant is helping Barilla grab 17% of U.S. pasta sales
Annual Sales: $2.4 billion
The Barilla family--whose pasta and bread company, based in Parma, Italy, dates back to 1877--hit a big snag in the early 1970s, when the third generation of family managers--brothers Pietro and Giovanni--quarreled and sold the business to W.R. Grace of the U.S. In 1979, however, Pietro bought back a majority stake, this time on his own, and started the company on a rapid expansion course. By 1993, when he died, Barilla produced 35% of the pasta sold in Italy. Now his three sons--Guido, Luca and Paolo--and their sister Emanuela are pushing aggressively into international markets, especially in the U.S., where Guido, 44, attended Boston College.
Barilla built a plant in Ames, Iowa, in 1999 and has grabbed about 17% of the $1 billion U.S. pasta market. The company remains private, but whereas their father was reluctant to bring in outside capital, Guido and his brothers are more open to external finance. Last year, in its biggest transaction to date, Barilla acquired Kamps, a big German bread chain, for $1 billion--bringing in a bank to finance the deal. Randel Carlock, a professor at Insead, says the family "could have just sat in Parma and made pasta. But the younger generation saw the strategic opportunity."
Bertarelli SERONO
The family's journey from Rome in 1906 to GENEVA in the 1970s mirrors its shift from traditional drugmaking to biotech. Three generations of successions make it a most unusual biotech firm
Family's Stake: $4.4 billion