A luxury titan has unseated Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest person

A luxury titan has unseated Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest person

Update: Since this story was published, Bezos reclaimed the top spot. As of 8am ET on May 25, Forbes estimated his net worth at $188.2 billion, ahead of Arnault’s $187.6 billion.

Bernard Arnault, CEO and majority owner of French luxury group LVMH, has surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest person.

His estimated net worth currently stands at $186.3 billion, according to Forbes, nudging him past Bezos’s $186 billion in estimated wealth. Tesla founder Elon Musk stands third, with a net worth of $147 billion.

Whereas Bezos built his fortune as the proprietor of the internet’s “everything store,” Arnault made his name and money from a collection of companies specializing in finely made leather goods, couture fashion, and high-end spirits. LVMH is the parent behind a number of globally known names in luxury, including Louis Vuitton, Dior, Celine, Moët, Hennessy, and now Tiffany. Arnault, 72, maneuvered his way into a controlling stake of the company in the late 1980s, in a saga that earned him the nickname “the wolf in cashmere.” He was instrumental in forging it into what is today the world’s largest luxury seller.

Over the past several months, as LVMH has seen its sales come roaring back from the pandemic, particularly among Chinese and US shoppers, its stock price has soared, and Arnault’s wealth with it. By November, he had become the world’s second-richest person and was gaining ground on Bezos.

At the time, the Arnault family held 47.5% of LVMH’s shares, according to the company’s last annual report (pdf). In recent months, Arnault has spent about $538 million buying up more stock, the price of which keeps growing.

Amazon, meanwhile, has seen its sales surge through the pandemic, but its share price hasn’t grown consistently since the end of last year. Its stock may be hugely undervalued, however, at least according to one analyst. If the market agrees and drives its price up, Bezos could reclaim his throne again.

Bernard Arnault Briefly Overtook Jeff Bezos as World’s Richest Man

Bernard Arnault, the owner of the luxury conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, was, briefly, this week the world’s richest man, at least according to Forbes’ estimates. He is now worth an estimated $186.3 billion. Which on Monday morning meant that Arnault had overtaken Amazon owner Jeff Bezos’ $186 billion fortune for the number one spot — for those doing the math, that was a difference of a slim $300 million.

However, on Monday as the markets re-opened, Bezos and Arnault played a game of musical chairs, as their bank accounts went back and forth in determining the top spot. Though, it appears Forbes has decided Bezos has currently regained his first-place status. Clocking in third place is Tesla owner, Saturday Night Live host, and X Æ A-12’s dad Elon Musk, who is worth $147.3 billion. Musk, himself, was briefly declared “world’s richest man” earlier this year on the strength of Tesla’s performance.

Arnault is a familiar name to many fashion obsessives, as LVMH owns many exalted brands in the industry, including Christian Dior, Celine, Givenchy, Loewe, Fendi, Bulgari, Tiffany & Co., Sephora, and Fenty, briefly, in addition to the aforementioned Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessey. The company also controls several wine and spirits brands (including Veuve Clicquot, Chandon, and Belvedere) as well as the luxury yacht company and the high-end hotel brands Cheval Blanc and Belmond.

Forbes noted that the pandemic has been especially kind to LVMH, with his personal wealth gaining an eye-popping $110 billion within the past 14 months. We’re guessing our weekly Sephora orders for face masks and lipstick we’ll never wear are partially responsible for Arnault’s dramatic increase. Arnault actually first got his start in the construction business, but in 1984 acquired the parent company of Dior. He then acquired a controlling stake in LVMH in 1989 (interestingly, LVMH and Dior’s integration wasn’t fully simplified until 2017). Most recently, LVMH also acquired Tiffany and Co. for a reported $15.8 billion in January 2021.

Musk is no longer world’s richest or even second-richest person

Tesla chief Elon Musk lost his spot as the world’s second-richest person on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Elon Musk’s Twitter posts keep sending Bitcoin prices tumbling. His own fortune is heading in the same direction.

On Monday, Tesla Inc.’s chief executive officer lost his spot as the world’s second-richest person to LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault as the electric vehicle-maker’s shares fell 2.2%. That was on top of last week’s slump amid a rout in technology stocks and fresh signs of trouble in its China business.

Musk, who held the top spot in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as recently as March, now has a fortune of $160.6 billion, down 24% from its January high.

The drop follows a turbulent period for Musk, who sent Bitcoin tumbling as much as 15% last week after posting a statement on Twitter that Tesla was no longer accepting the digital currency as payment. He also whipsawed Dogecoin prices after tweeting he’s working with developers of the Shiba Inu-themed token to improve transaction efficiencies.

Wreaking Havoc

Over the weekend, Musk wreaked havoc again when he seemed to imply that Tesla may sell or has sold its Bitcoin holdings before later clarifying in a tweet Monday that the company had done no such thing.

Musk, 49, became the world’s richest person in January after Tesla’s shares surged almost 750% last year amid a boom in technology-driven stocks. Despite reporting record first-quarter profit, the Palo Alto, California-based company’s shares have since fallen by about a fifth amid a global semiconductor shortage and increasing competition from traditional automakers.

Tesla’s skeptics include Michael Burry, the investor who rose to fame for making billions off bets against mortgage securities during the financial crisis. He recently placed a sizable wager against the company, according to a regulatory filing Monday.

Musk’s fortune has dropped about $9.1 billion this year, the most among U.S.-based billionaires tracked by Bloomberg’s wealth index.

Meanwhile, Arnault, 72, has added the most, with his net worth climbing by almost $47 billion to $161.2 billion as sales of his firm’s luxury goods surge in China and other parts of Asia.

(Adds details of Burry’s Tesla short in sixth paragraph)

–With assistance from Jack Witzig and Devon Pendleton.