Paris - Francois Pinault has seen better days as the glamourous worlds of finance and fashion put the well-connected French billionaire in a painful pinch.
His holding firm Artemis is at the centre of sticky negotiations between French officials and US prosecutors over its involvement in Credit Lyonnais' allegedly illegal takeover of Californian insurer Executive Life in the early 1990s.
Meanwhile, his business empire, which he built from a timber trading company in the early 1960s to an international retail giant, is still reeling from the departure of both the top executive and star designer of Gucci, the jewel in his crown of companies.
But in consolation for his recent woes, Pinault, 67, has friends in high places he can lean on.
Press reports have suggested Pinault's more than 20-year friendship with French president Jacques Chirac, a fellow art lover, has not hurt his situation in the diplomatically sensitive Executive Life case, which has seen French ministers jetting across the Atlantic in search of a resolution.
Ahead of the long Thanksgiving weekend in the US, French officials were in Los Angeles trying to secure protection from prosecution for Artemis.
Pinault and Artemis are accused of indirectly acquiring Executive Life assets from then-public Credit Lyonnais, which allegedly bought the collapsed firm in 1993 and then concealed its involvement in the purchase.
California law at the time barred banks and foreign governments from holding more than 25 percent of an insurance company.
US prosecutors have given France until tonight California time to settle the politically delicate legal battle.
Officials at the French presidency insisted last week that Pinault and Chirac's personal relationship was in no way interfering in the matter.
Their friendship goes back to 1981 when Chirac, then a member of parliament representing the central French region of Correze, called on Pinault to help save a small local company.
Since then, Pinault has remained a faithful ally as Chirac went on later to become mayor of Paris, prime minister and finally president.
They have often been dinner guests at each other's homes, although that has become more complicated since Chirac became president in 1995.
US legal woes aside, business could be better for Pinault since Gucci's chief executive Domenico de Sole and Texan designer Tom Ford said in early November they were bowing out.
Analysts said that was bad news for Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR), which groups together most of the companies in Pinault's empire and is owned 42 percent by Artemis.
As a result, PPR's shares fell sharply and on Friday showed a loss of nearly 8 percent from the closing price of November 3, the day before the announcement.
PPR has yet to name potential successors with the stature of De Sole and Ford, who orchestrated the revival of the Gucci brand and the 1999 takeover and relaunch of the Yves Saint Laurent label, and command the respect of financial analysts and fashion aficionados alike.
Problems at Gucci spell trouble for the overall group given that PPR is shelling out heavily to take full control of the Italian luxury group.
PPR chief executive Serge Weinberg estimated the total cost of the takeover would be more than $10 billion when the deal was announced in September 2001.
PPR became a Gucci shareholder as a so-called white knight investor to fend off a rival takeover from French luxury retail giant LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton headed by Pinault's arch-rival, French tycoon Bernard Arnault.
But even if the replacement of Gucci's top brass gets solved quickly, further problems remain on the horizon at other brands in the Gucci group.
Balenciaga head designer Nicolas Ghesquiere, widely considered a rising star in the fashion world, has indicated in recent interviews that he is interested in setting up his own label, raising the question of his departure from the Gucci group. - AFP