Family offices · United States
Mousse Partners: The Wertheimers' Chanel Family Office
Mousse Partners is the New York-based family office that manages the wealth of the Wertheimer family, whose members Alain and Gérard Wertheimer own Chanel, according to Bloomberg. It is a division of Mousse Investments Limited, which Bloomberg describes as the family's Cayman Islands holding company and Chanel's ultimate holding company; it invests in private and publicly traded companies from New York, with investment operations in Beijing and Hong Kong. It does not disclose its assets (Bloomberg reported more than US$10 billion in January 2026, citing an unnamed person), and in October 2025 it agreed to co-lead a recapitalisation of the wealth manager Rockefeller Capital Management. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
At a glance
| Family | Wertheimer family |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1991, according to Bloomberg |
| Headquarters | New York, New York, USA |
| Run by | Arthur Heilbronn, President (Rothschild & Co, 2026); Charles Heilbronn, founder and chairman (Bloomberg, 2025) |
| Size | Over US$10 billion, per an unnamed source cited by Bloomberg (January 2026); not disclosed |
| Structure | Single family office; a division of Mousse Investments Limited, the Wertheimers' Cayman holding company |
| Known for | Rockefeller Capital Management recapitalisation (2025); interest in Rothschild & Co; decades-long stake in Media-Participations |
How did Mousse Partners start?
Charles Heilbronn set up Mousse Partners in 1991 to oversee the Wertheimer family's wealth, according to Bloomberg, which describes him as a half-brother of Alain and Gérard Wertheimer. It is a division of Mousse Investments Limited, which Bloomberg describes as the family's Cayman Islands holding company and Chanel's ultimate holding company. Charles Heilbronn's son Arthur joined Mousse Investments Limited in 2019, after working in several teams at Chanel in 2018, according to Rothschild & Co. Bloomberg reported in October 2026 that Mousse Partners set up a Geneva entity, Mousseknuckle, about a decade ago, which has shown few signs of commercial activity. [1, 3, 4, 6]
Reported by the sources named, not confirmed by an official source.
Who runs Mousse Partners?
Arthur Heilbronn is President of Mousse Partners, with direct oversight of its business and senior leadership, and Co-Head of Private Direct Investments, according to his undated Rothschild & Co supervisory board biography (read in October 2026). Bloomberg reported in September 2025 that his father, Charles Heilbronn, had been chairman since 1991, and that Arthur was then a managing director and co-head of private equity and venture direct investing with Paul Yun. Bloomberg reported in January 2026 that chief investment officer Suzi Kwon Cohen, at the firm for about a decade, would leave in June 2026; no successor had been reported as of October 2026. [1, 2, 4]
Reported by the sources named, not confirmed by an official source.
How big is Mousse Partners?
Mousse Partners does not disclose how much money it controls, according to Bloomberg (September 2025). In January 2026 Bloomberg reported, citing a person with knowledge of the matter, that it manages more than US$10 billion. No Form 13F filed under the Mousse Partners name was found. The roughly US$86 billion that Bloomberg gave for the Wertheimer family's wealth in October 2026 is the family's fortune, mostly Chanel, not the office's assets. [1, 2, 6]
Reported by the sources named, not confirmed by an official source.
What does Mousse Partners invest in?
Mousse Partners oversees a diversified portfolio and invests in private and publicly traded companies and through third-party advised funds, according to Rockefeller Capital Management. On 14 October 2025 it agreed to co-lead, with Progeny 3 and Abrams Capital, a group of investors in a recapitalisation of Rockefeller Capital Management at an enterprise value of over US$6.6 billion; its stake was not disclosed. Bloomberg reported in September 2025 that Mousse had been invested for decades in the French publishing and audiovisual group Media-Participations, had backed companies such as Brightside Health, Brandtech Group, Harmless Harvest and Thirty Madison, joined an investment in the fashion label The Row in 2024, and held about 8% of Netgem (Netgem listed Mousse Partners with 7.01% at 31 August 2017, but its shareholder table at 31 December 2025 does not name Mousse). Bloomberg says Mousse Partners has an interest in Rothschild & Co (October 2026); in 2023 Mousseshield, L.P., a Delaware partnership controlled by Arthur Heilbronn through Moussecote, LLC, was one of the co-investors acting in concert with Rothschild & Co Concordia in its buyout offer for Rothschild & Co. [1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
Reported by the sources named, not confirmed by an official source.
How is Mousse Partners set up and regulated?
Mousse Partners is a division of Mousse Investments Limited, according to Rockefeller Capital Management (Rothschild & Co calls it the investment division), and Rothschild & Co calls Mousse Partners Limited, LLC a family office. It is based in New York City, with investment operations in Beijing and Hong Kong; SEC filings give Charles Heilbronn's business address as c/o Mousse Partners Limited, LLC, 9 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019 (Schedule 13G of February 2022, repeated in Olaplex's May 2026 proxy). Olaplex shares that Olaplex's proxy lists under Mousse Partners were held by Mousserena, L.P. of the Cayman Islands, for which Charles Heilbronn signed as President of its general partner, Serena Limited; no Form ADV or Form 13F filed under the Mousse Partners name was found, so the basis of any US regulatory exemption is not confirmed. [3, 4, 10, 11]
What changed in 2025 and 2026?
Bloomberg reported in September 2025 that Arthur Heilbronn had become a director of one of Mousse's main holding entities earlier that year. On 14 October 2025 Mousse Partners agreed to co-lead the Rockefeller Capital Management recapitalisation, which was expected to close by 31 December 2025; no completion announcement was found. In January 2026 Bloomberg reported that chief investment officer Suzi Kwon Cohen would leave in June 2026. Henkel acquired Olaplex on 7 July 2026 for US$2.06 a share in cash; Olaplex's May 2026 proxy still listed Mousse Partners with 38,136,163 shares (5.7%), based on a February 2022 filing, so any Olaplex stake has ended and whether Mousse still held it at closing is not public. On 9 October 2026 Bloomberg reported that Gérard Wertheimer had established a Swiss family office in Geneva to oversee some of his fortune, citing registry filings for at least two investment entities formed there in late 2025, one of which bought a CHF 34 million office in 2026; it is described as Gérard's office, not as part of Mousse Partners, which declined to comment. [1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 12]
Reported by the sources named, not confirmed by an official source.
