Pierre Berge today it was announced that Pierre Berge has died. Pierre Berge was cofounder of Yves Saint Laurent Couture House. Berge is also known for having dated the founder of the company, Yves Saint Laurent.
Over decades, the Yves Saint Laurent brand has become one of the highest brands in fashion, earning Berge and his cofounder hundreds of millions of dollars.
So what is Pierre Berge net worth? Read on…
Pierre Berge began his career in accounting and taxes. He moved to Paris when he was a young man, and happened upon meeting some famous people in the Parisian scene. These people managed to help him get into high society and into the art scene.
At the same time, designer Yves Saint Laurent was running around Paris working on his original designs. He was connected with Christian Dior when he was young, and was taken under his wing.
In the late 1950s, Pierre Berge met Yves Saint Laurent, and the two started dating. They were together for a total of nearly 20 years. The couple actually ended up getting married in France right before Yves Saint Laurent’s death in 2008.
During that time, the couple decided to start a business together. That business would eventually become Yves Saint Laurent Couture House. In the business, Berge acted as the CEO, while Yves Saint Laurent was the designer.
The Yves Saint Laurent company began as a boutique in the 1960s, but it expanded and expanded, and became a giant conglomerate by the 1990s. Eventually it was bought by Gucci. The purchase price was approximately $700 million in cash according to the New York Times.
At the time the company also had $268 million in debt.
Pierre Berge earned a lot of money off of that sale, and he definitely like to show it. Over time, he purchased Picasso paintings, antique sculptures, and other items worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He also had a rare books collection worth about $15 million, including one book of poetry that sold for about $700,000.
From that sale alone, Berge and Yves Saint Laurent’s estate earned a total of nearly $450 million. Berge himself likely made about $150 million.
One thing that is unknown about Pierre Berge and his relationship with Yves Saint Laurent is exactly how the two split their finances. There were conflicting reports of how much each of the couple received.
However, given that that Berbe earned around $150 million after the sale of his and Yves Saint Laurent’s assets, plus up to $250 million from the sale of stock in the YSL brand, we estimate Pierre Berge net worth at $400 million at the time of his death.
Photo: Wikimedia/Matthieu Riegler