A pedestrian walks past a Cartier store, operated by Richemont, as it stands illuminated at night in Shanghai, China. Picture: BLOOMBERG
A pedestrian walks past a Cartier store, operated by Richemont, as it stands illuminated at night in Shanghai, China. Picture: BLOOMBERG

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RICHEMONT says co-CEO Bernard Fornas will retire as the world’s largest jewellery maker in the midst of a plan to cut jobs at its top watchmaking brands, including Cartier, Vacheron Constantin and Piaget.

Mr Fornas will leave at the end of March after two decades with the company and remain on the board, Richemont said on Friday

Separately, the company is cutting 300 jobs at its Swiss watchmaking operations, Tribune de Geneve reported, without saying how it got the information. Richemont previously said it planned to eliminate 350 positions. Nobody at Richemont immediately responded to a request for comment ahead of normal business hours.

Cartier CEO Cyrille Vigneron also will join the executive committee of the Geneva-based company, whose full name is Compagnie Financière Richemont. Alain Dominique Perrin, a board member and former Richemont CEO who chairman Johann Rupert dubbed "Mr Cartier" for his role at that brand, will leave the board in September, after which he will be a consultant to the company.

To replace him, Richemont is proposing Jeff Moss, a computer and internet security expert who serves as a member of the US Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council and Council on Foreign Relations. Previously he was chief security officer of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Bloomberg