Beneath the dome of the Institut de France in Paris, a new chapter opened this week for the luxury titan, a familiar silhouette with international stature, stepping onto the green carpet.

On Monday, January 12, 2026, he was formally installed as a member of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques, within the section of Political Economy, Statistics and Finance, taking up the prestigious seat number one left vacant by Denis Kessler, former chairman of the reinsurance group Scor, who passed away in June 2023.

This was no mere social formality. One of the five learned institutions of the Institut de France, the Academy brings together fifty figures elected by their peers for their contributions to the nation’s intellectual, political, and social life since its founding in the nineteenth century. Yet for the lord, it always remains a matter of money.