Jean-Pierre Willot

"the Arnault and Savinel families rub shoulders with Jean-Pierre and Régis Willot but do not socialize with them. The Willot brothers are neighbors, as are the Mulliez family (who would later found Auchan), but they are only greeted furtively. Instead, they seek recognition, even an invitation from the Tiberghien, Prouvost, Masurel, Dewavrin, and other prominent families, often in vain."

"So the Willot brothers bought Boussac without spending a penny. The price (700 million francs) was paid for by several asset sales, including the daily newspaper L'Aurore, sold to Robert Hersant. For the rest, the prey financed its predator. In three years, Boussac would bring them more than 600 million francs. They are rich. They are boastful. With Dior, they dress princesses and stars. The establishment can no longer despise them. They could stop there, make their group a model of good management relying more on operating profits than exceptional capital gains, stop walking the tightrope and living on credit. But have you ever seen a hamster stop nibbling? Jean-Pierre Willot, the most ambitious of the quartet, decides to strike again. Two months after Boussac, he buys the Korvettes chain of department stores in the United States. Crêpe Willot has become a multinational corporation."

"It is also the first time that a group has committed to presenting an economic balance sheet, that is, by proceeding with a revaluation of its real estate assets to give an updated value to its consolidated assets. When questioned by a journalist, Jean-Pierre Willot clarified: "I attach more importance to the economic balance sheet than to the accounting balance sheet in which assets are valued in 1950 francs as if they were in today's francs."

"Moreover, in his usual manner, Jean-Pierre Willot engages in a tough negotiation with Korvette's suppliers to obtain payment terms. In vain, they refuse to deliver unless they are paid in cash. Due to the drastic reduction in its sales areas, Korvette's no longer has the purchasing power it once had."

"Korvettes is losing a lot of money. The American banks that have supported it so far do not trust the new management. Jean-Pierre Willot, who is leading the operation, has delegated Alain Mathieu to rectify the situation. He is on the ground at the beginning of 1979 and begins a painstaking slimming down process. This is accomplished in record time. Loss-making stores are closed or disposed of, and the workforce is reduced from 12,000 to 3,000 people."

"Jean-Pierre Willot and his brother Antoine, resigned, can only accept them. First, a buyer must be found for Dior. Then, it is necessary to realize, within two months, 100 million francs of divestments. The sale of the shares of Compagnie de Navigation Mixte for 37 million francs, acquired piecemeal by Jean-Pierre Willot, and the execution of a lease-back operation on the Boussac headquarters on rue Poissonnière for 64 million should enable this to be achieved."

"It is in the garment activity that the slope is the hardest to climb. Interviewed by Le Point (issue of January 26, 1981), Jean-Pierre and Antoine Willot explain: "The Blainville factory (Blizzand raincoats and sportswear), a former flagship of the Boussac group, is the very example of the laxity that has settled in: instead of manufacturing products based on market trends... it served as an outlet for upstream manufactured products. This single factory accounted for a third of the group’s garment activity losses."

"On May 10, 1981, the outcome is announced, François Mitterrand is elected president of the Republic. The socialists are going to come to power... For the brothers, it’s consternation... Jean-Pierre Willot, who always has one move ahead on the chessboard, but not always at the right time, imagines a way out for himself. The solution is to spin off the industrial activities, by creating seven autonomous entities: hygiene, flax, household linens, fabrics and apparel, sports and leisure, packaging, engineering and mechanics. This spin-off allows to separate "the wheat from the chaff.""

"On July 25, a thunderclap, nonetheless predictable: the indictment of Jean-Pierre Willot made the front page of all the newspapers. An arrest warrant has been issued against him by Judge Martinet on the grounds of corporate asset misappropriation to the detriment of the companies Dior and La Belle Jardinière. After being heard by the judicial police in Lille, Jean-Pierre Willot was urgently presented to the examining magistrate to be notified of his charges."

"He agrees to take over the management, but wishes to drop the public works part of its activity, to focus only on the real estate development part, which he considers more conducive to value creation. He surrounds himself with highly qualified executives: Michel Lefebvre, the "giant" of communication and sales, Hughes Motte, a highly skilled technician, Alain Dinin, as secretary-general, today the president of Nexity, Georges Pons, former lawyer and legal director, and finally, he benefits from the advice of Pierre Godé, at the time a lawyer at the Lille bar. Ferret-Savinel becomes Ferinel, specializing in holiday residences by the sea and in the mountains and in housing construction. In this context, he has business relations with Jean-Pierre Willot and his real estate service that are looking to enhance the industrial wastelands of BSF and transform them into building plots."

"The Boussac Saint Frères file is one of those. The quality and influence of the Christian Dior brand greatly impressed Bernard Arnault. He would really like to know more... He knows the brothers, who are also from the North, why not meet them? On July 15, 1984, a first meeting takes place in Croix, at Croquet, the name of Jean-Pierre Willot's lavish home. Who will outsmart whom? Bernard Arnault mostly talks about Dior, but it's all or nothing..."

"The court will remind that the principles set by a ruling of the Court of Cassation of February 4, 1985 state: "The interest of the group is defined as a common interest distinct from the interest of the dominant company and inseparable from the particular interest of the member companies. If the collective interest conflicts with the singular interest of a company, it is the latter that must prevail when the group's strategy exposes it to a risk to which it should not normally be exposed." Consequently, it was necessary to verify if, within the Agache-Willot group, subsidiaries like Dior, Conforama, Au bon Marché, or la Belle Jardinière had not suffered impoverishment by BSF or SFFAW, without possibility of compensation. Thus, the court will convict Jean-Pierre, Antoine, Bernard, and Régis Willot of misuse of corporate assets and credit for the benefit of Korvettes and to the detriment of Conforama, Bon Marché, and Dior."