What is Nicolas Puech's Net Worth?
Nicolas Puech is a Swiss businessman who has a net worth of $50 million. Nicolas Puech is a fifth-generation descendant of the Hermes dynasty, which is regarded to be one of the leading manufacturers of lifestyle products in Europe. Hermes is known for manufacturing luxury goods such as Birkin handbags and silk scarves. The Puech family is one of the richest families in the world, with a combined net worth of $155 billion.
Puech was first appointed to the Hermès supervisory board in 2012. He remained on the board through 2023. At his peak, Nicolas Puech owned around 6% of Hermes. That stake would be worth around $13 billion today if he still controlled it. Unfortunately, the current status of that one-time 6% stake was murky, to say the least.
Gardener Inheritance
In December 2023, Nicolas Puech stunned the world with his plan to give half his $13 billion fortune to his former gardener. This unexpected move upended his previous commitment to a charity he founded, the Isocrates Foundation. Puech, childless and seeking a closer connection, purportedly wanted to "adopt" the middle-aged gardener to ensure his financial future.
This decision threw Puech's life into turmoil. The Isocrates Foundation, understandably, opposed the alteration of their inheritance agreement. Questions swirled about Puech's motives, the gardener's role, and the potential influence at play. Legal battles flamed, and the fate of both the fortune and Puech's legacy hung in the balance.
As part of an ensuing court case, it was revealed that Puech's former business manager began regularly selling his shares perhaps as early as 1998. Puech would later claim in court that he did not know his shares were being sold and he still believed he owned roughly 6% of the luxury giant.
Missing Shares
Months after announcing his intention to leave his stake to his gardener, Nicolas claimed that he LOST his 6% stake in Hermes. He literally claimed to not know where the shares were located and suspected that a former financial advisor may have perpetrated a major fraud. Nicolas suspects that the financial manager set up a trust in a foreign country, which now controls the shares or the proceeds earned from the sale of the shares.
