Gérard Paul Philippe Wertheimer was born April 17, 1951 and he is a French billionaire businessman based in New York City and Geneva, who owns Chanel in partnership with his brother, Alain .
He is oen of the richest business men in the world.
Gerard Wertheimer Biography
He was born into a Jewish family, the son of Jacques Wertheimer and Eliane Fischer. His grandfather, Pierre, co-founded Chanel with Coco Chanel .
The company is led by Alain Wertheimer, who has presided over the acquisition of several non-Chanel brands, including Eres Lingerie, Tanner Krolle saddles and leather goods , and Holland & Holland, a British gunsmith.
Based in France, the Wertheimer brothers are owning French vineyards, including Château Rauzan-Ségla in Margaux and Château Canon in Saint-Emilion ., both of which have won rave reviews from oenophiles. 
Alain And Gerard Wertheimer
Both brothers are keen jockeys who also inherited and operate a major Thoroughbred racing stable they call La Presle Farm and/or Wertheimer farm for racing in the United States and in France as Wertheimer et Frère society .
The brothers Gérard and Alain Wertheimer are French billionaires with an estimated professional fortune in 2020 between 34 and 62 billion dollars according to sources.
Coming from the Wertheimer family, they own, with their brother Alain Wertheimer, Chanel SA, Bourjois cosmetics, shotgun manufacturer Holland & Holland , the swimwear brand Eres, and La Martinière editions .
Chanel is perhaps the most famous French brand in the world. Coco Chanel, its founder, remains a fashion icon and No. 5 perfume is the best-selling fragrance ever.
Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel‘s designer for 19 years, is haute couture’s most quoted and photographed personality.Chanel fashion and perfumery are displayed in the best stores and catwalks.
They are also at the head of a prestigious racehorse stable, entrusted to the head family . They own Château Rauzan Ségla in Margaux and Château Canon in Saint-Émilion .
They are also known for their fiscal expatriation in Switzerland.
In 2017, Alain and Gérard received $3.4 billion in dividends for 2016. According to Challenges , “The leak was so strong that the company’s cash flow fell, for the first time in a long time, below the billion dollars . “
In addition, the strategy has worked out perfectly for these entrepreneurs, since putting a man as mediatic as Lagerfeld as the main creative – his comments always generate controversy – they could remain quietly in the shadows. Because, to date, there are hardly any graphic documents that allow them to be identified.
Discretion is one of their maxims, something they have inherited from their ancestors and which is becoming more and more common in the fashion sector.
Because these two Frenchmen follow the same pattern as the most famous and millionaire Spanish businessman and, also, the most unknown.
Amancio Ortega , the founder of Inditex , never grants interviews and his public appearances are few,like the wedding of his daughter,Martha.
It has been the only occasion in which we have been able to see him in a relaxed way before the press-, something similar to what these two brothers do, who prefer to put all their attention into making their big business continue to grow than dedicating themselves to kindness of the parties and events that are the daily bread of many other millionaires.
Gerard Wertheimer Career
The big firms in the world often have famous personalities behind them. You can’t think of Microsoft without Bill Gates or Amazon without Jeff Bezos , but there are others where it’s not so easy to remember who owns them. 
A perfect example of this is Chanel , which despite being the quintessential French brand and the total reference in the world of fashion, few people can mention who its owners are. For three generations, the Wertheimer family has owned the firm created by Gabrielle Chanel, and they own a fortune estimated at 45.5 billion euros.
Like every year, Bloomberg publishes the list of the richest families in the world. And in addition to the already common surnames Mars , Koch or Walton , the Wertheimer family is also present.
A business dynasty that has been at the helm of Chanel for three generations and whose fortune is estimated at more than 45,500 million euros.
Since 1924 the millionaire clan has been taking the reins of one of the most expensive and important luxury firms in the world, today the brothers Gerard and Alain Wertheimer are the owners of the fashion brand.
Despite their position and heritage, few come to identify them among the guests of the Chanel parades because they have turned discretion into their way of life and his public appearances are few.
His desire for privacy goes so far that for the first time in its 110-year history, the financial results of the firm, which is not listed on the stock market, were made public.
The saga is admired in the business world for having managed to perpetrate Chanel’s independence over the generations and stay away from large fashion conglomerates such as LVMH and Kering.
They rarely give interviews or speak at company events, but it is known that both Alain and Gerard are fond of hunting and skiing, as well as having a collection of works of art that includes artists such as Picasso or Matisse. In addition to the fashion firm, they own three wineries in France and breed racehorses (it is estimated that they have more than 200 horses).
After taking the reins of the family business, Alain, 72, presides over the company in New York, a city where it is not uncommon to see him using the subway and where he lives in an apartment on Fifth Avenue with his wife and three sons. For his part, Gerard, 70, runs the watch division from Geneva and has three children. Among the family heritage include a castle in Loire Valley, France, and a house in the Swiss Alps.
The Wertheimers’ history with Chanel began in 1924 when their grandfather Pierre entered into an agreement with Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel to found the Société des Parfums Chanel, to produce and sell the clothing brand’s beauty products. She saw in this agreement a good opportunity to expand her Chanel Nº5 fragrance to a larger public.
From then on, House of Chanel was established, the company that encompasses all the group’s businesses. But Gabrielle later would not agree with the agreement and would try in 1941 to legally take control from Pierre, but failed (at that time the family owned 50% of the fashion house).
“It was like a winning lottery ticket,” a Wertheimer member once acknowledged. After a history of struggles, Coco ended up giving in and in 1954, after traveling to New York, she decided to sell his firm to the Wertheimers. As long as they respect his creative legacy and cover all his expenses until his death.
His only son Jacques, a passionate art collector not very interested in making the business prosper, would take over from Pierre. Three decades later, brothers Alain and Gerard took over the role of co-owners of the House of Chanel in 1996 after their father’s death.
Both revived the firm by betting on Karl Lagerfeld as creative director who revolutionized the world of fashion.
Gerard Wertheimer Net Worth
Chanel it’s owned by two brothers, Alain and Gerard Wertheimer. And it’s good to be a Wertheimer in 2021.
According to financial documents in the UK, the Cayman Islands holding company the Wertheimers use to control Chanel paid the brothers $2.5 billion apiece in dividends last year. That’s likely the most the company has ever earned in a year over the course of its entire history, or at least as long as it’s been making financial disclosures.
As if that wasn’t surprising enough, thanks to skyrocketing valuations for the luxury fashion brand, the brothers’ combined net worth now exceedes.
Demand for Chanel products has increased since the first half of 2020, with shoppers in Seoul recently lining up around the block for the privilege of spending $9,500 on a given Chanel bag. Other Chanel retail stores have had to impose restrictions on the number of products each customer can buy to cope with growing demand.
According to a recent Bloomberg interview with the company’s chief financial officer, Philippe Blondiaux, Chanel plans to capitalize on recent increases in revenue with a $1 billion investment, hiring more than 3,500 new workers in retail, creative and fashion. company manufacturing.
As for what Alain and Gerard have in mind for their newly expanded fortunes, they’ll probably have to leave that to the imagination. The infamously reclusive brothers tend to stay out of the spotlight, as they always have since inheriting their father Jacques Wertheimer‘s Chanel empire upon his death in 1996.
- in 2022: €80 billion
- in 2021: €67 billion
- in 2020: €53 billion
- in 2019: €50 billion
- in 2018: €40 billion
- in 2014: €14.5 billion
- in 2013: €7 billion
- in 2012: €5.6 billion
- in 2011: €4.5 billion
Gerard Wertheimer Children
He is married and he have two children and he is living in New York City and Switzerland.
