How CEOs like Bernard Arnault and Tim Cook decorate their offices
Apple
- CEOs' office decor reveals different elements of their personalities.
- Bernard Arnault's office at LVMH features artwork from one of the most famous painters.
- Meanwhile Mark Zuckerberg is content with just a desk.
From priceless artwork to "Star Wars" memorabilia, you can tell a lot about a chief executive by how they decorate their office.
Their high salaries, and even higher net worths, mean CEOs have the power to deck their workspaces out with more than everyday knickknacks. Still, some choose the bare minimum.
Mark Zuckerberg, for example, has previously boasted about working alongside his Meta employees instead of in his own office. Meanwhile, Salesforce's Marc Benioff is surrounded by his favorite science fiction characters.
The daily schedule of a CEO typically includes long hours, endless meetings, and sifting through a bombardment of emails. Here's how they decorate the spaces where they run their companies,
Bernard Arnault
ERIC PIERMONT/AFP/Getty Images
With a net worth of $201 billion, according to Bloomberg, LVMH top boss Bernard Arnault has very expensive taste. He stands at the helm of a luxury goods empire made up of iconic brands, including Louis Vuitton, Dom Pérignon, and Dior.
His office at the LVMH headquarters in Paris reflects his status. According to a recent profile with Bloomberg, Arnault's walls are adorned with three paintings by the late artist Andy Warhol. At the time, a framed Picasso sat leaning against the wall, not yet hung.
The conference room attached to his office has a neutral color palette with brown wood paneling on the walls and artwork featuring the Eiffel Tower, according to the profile.
Tim Cook
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images; Jenny Chang-Rodriguez/BI
When Apple CEO Tim Cook was interviewed for a profile in Vanity Fair, which was published in line with the release of the Vision Pro headset in February, he took journalists into his modestly decorated office inside Apple Park.
He had most of the devices one might expect from the leader of a high-powered tech company like Apple — an iPad and AirPods on his desk with a Mac and Macbook at a separate standing desk behind him.
But the Alabama native also had pieces of home with him in Cupertino. He had a football helmet from his alma mater, Auburn University, a signed basketball, and — like Arnault — a collection of framed art leaning against the wall.
The one piece of decor that Cook did manage to hang was a framed photo of the late politician Robert F. Kennedy. The photo features the Apple logo and appears to be in a similar style to Apple's famous "Think Different" campaign.
Marc Benioff
Kevin Dietsch/Staff/Getty Images.
If his office is any indication, Benioff is a huge sci-fi buff. The Salesforce CEO gave Forbes an office tour in 2015 where he showed of his collection of figurines from different pop culture phenomena.
At the time, Benioff had figures of fictional "Star Wars" robot R2-D2, Princess Leia, and Darth Maul. He also had toys like Mr. Potato Head and a stuffed Sully from "Monsters Inc."
His love for Hawaii has been evident over the years as he and his wife have bought and donated hundreds of acres of Hawaiian land to develop affordable housing. As such, Benioff told Forbes that he keeps surfboards in his office to remind him of the state.
In 2018, a new headquarters, the Salesforce Tower, opened in San Francisco. It's unclear if Benioff brought along his sci-fi merchandise and surfboards.
Mark Zuckerberg
Jeff Bottari/Getty Images
Unlike his fellow top execs, Zuckerberg takes a simpler approach to his workspace.
In 2015, he gave a live office tour of the Meta, then Facebok, headquarters months after the company moved in. The "massive open floor plan," as Zuck described it, allows people to share and communicate more freely.
And the CEO isn't excluded from that.
Zuckerberg emphasized that even people who were "running the company" didn't get special offices. His desk, which was in a cluster of about four other working stations, had stacks of books, his name written in graffiti-style with black paint, and a wooden Facebook logo.
"We've worked like this for a long time, and it's been a pretty core way for how we do what we do here at Facebook," he said in the video.