LVMH, Tiffany: French Finance Minister Supports Foreign Ministry'S Intervention

Bruno le Maire, France's finance minister, said publicly on Monday that he supported French Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian's call for the French luxury giant LVMH group to postpone its acquisition of Tiffany, a US jewelry brand.

LVMH group announced on Wednesday that the French foreign ministry asked them to postpone the acquisition of Tiffany, an American jewelry brand, until January 6, next year, and LVMH decided to abandon the acquisition completely.

"I don't have any particular comments on this," says le Maire. Ledrian made a decision he thought was right. It is the responsibility of the foreign minister to use whatever means he considers necessary to protect the interests of France. "

Le Maire also stressed in an interview that the digital tax will continue to be implemented. "One of the things I have done before, now and will continue to do in the future is to continue to implement the revenue increase of digital tax," he said. Digital companies are one of the beneficiaries of the crisis, and it's time for them to pay their taxes. "

Le Maire said last week that if international negotiations through the organization for economic cooperation and development fail, he will try to introduce a digital tax on GAFA (Google, apple, Facebook and Amazon, the four major Internet and digital companies in the United States) in the first half of next year.

The digital tax is the cause of the friction between the United States and France. In July, the U.S. government announced plans to increase tariffs on French red wine, handbags and cheese, in response to France's plan to increase digital taxes, which will affect American Internet companies such as Amazon.

The LVMH group said that the French Foreign Ministry wrote in a letter: "the new US tariffs on some French goods may affect France's foreign relations. Therefore, the investments made by French companies in these related areas must be reassessed in the current new situation. As the most important investment transaction of French enterprises, LVMH group's acquisition of Tiffany attracted our attention. To support France's response to the US government's decision, LVMH should postpone the completion of the Tiffany deal until January 6 next year. "

After that, Tiffany announced that it would sue LVMH group in court of chancery (equity court) of Delaware, requiring the court to force the latter to complete the acquisition on schedule, and LVMH group immediately announced that it would also sue Tiffany. The hearing is expected to be held on September 21.