Heir of popular luxury brand plans to give gardener half of his $14 billion fortune

Dec 15 2023, 9:28 pm

The heir of popular luxury brand Hermès has some unorthodox plans for his fortune.

Eighty-year-old Nicholas Puech, heir to the Hermès fashion house, is reportedly planning to give half of his fortune to his 51-year-old “former gardener and handyman,” according to Swiss publication Tribune de Genève.

Puech reportedly owns between 5% and 6% of the brand, which means his net worth is around US$11 billion (C$14 billion).

Hermès

Nicholas Puech/Facebook

Unmarried and with no children, Puech has allegedly begun making legal moves to adopt the gardener so that part of the fortune can be bestowed on him.

The anonymous former gardener is reportedly from a “modest Moroccan family,” married to a woman from Spain.

Apparently, half of US$11 billion isn’t the only thing he’ll be inheriting.

Puech might also give the lucky man the keys to his properties in Marrakesh, Morocco, and Montreux, Switzerland, valued at $5.9 million.

Puech is the fifth-generation descendant of Thierry Hermès, who founded the legendary fashion house in 1837 in Paris.

The brand is most known for its highly sought-after Birkin bags.

Puech left the Hermès supervising board in 2014 when a rift formed within the family after rival luxury brand LVMH acquired 23% of the house, according to the New York Post

This isn’t the first time a billionaire has made unconventional plans for their fortune.

Last year, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard made the unprecedented move to donate his $3 billion company to fight climate change.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also pledged to give a majority of his $124 billion net worth to charity during his lifetime, but people weren’t buying it.

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