Overview

• Nicolas Puech, an heir to the Hermès fortune, plans to leave half of his estimated $11.7 billion fortune to his former gardener, who he intends to adopt.
• The gardener, a 51-year-old man from Morocco, has worked for Puech for decades and has essentially become Puech's only family.
• Puech has already given the gardener and his family over $1.6 million to buy a villa in Marrakech, Morocco, and they have also amassed various estates and around 50 pieces of agricultural land in Spain and Portugal.
• Puech owns 5.7% of Hermès' capital, making him its largest individual shareholder.
• Puech had previously agreed to pass on his money to the Isocrates Foundation, which funds investigative public-interest journalism, upon his death.