Geneva/Zurich — Johann Rupert, the billionaire who controls Cartier owner, Richemont, envisions a future in which humans are displaced by robots in the workplace and have all the time in the world to travel. He’s betting the company’s money on it. The Swiss luxury-goods maker, whose brands also include Montblanc, disclosed a 5% stake in Dufry, the world’s largest duty-free retailer, on Friday. Dufry shares rose as much as 7.5% in early trading. The purchase comes a week after Rupert predicted that artificial intelligence and robots will cause economic and social upheaval in the next two decades, drawing on the "Second Machine Age" theories of MIT professors Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee. While a swathe of the population may become unemployable, the uptake of work by machines and computers will fuel demand for leisure among those who can afford it, according to the 66-year-old magnate. "Man will have more free time," Rupert said on a call with journalists last week when Richemo...
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