Louis Vuitton owner Bernard Arnault dethrones Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest man
Louis Vuitton owner Bernard Arnault dethrones Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest man
New Delhi: World’s leading fashion luxury goods company Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey (LMVH) owner Bernard Arnault dethroned Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest man. As per Forbes, Arnault claimed the number one spot with a net worth of $186.4 billion beating Bezos whose net worth stands at $186 billion. Arnault has added over $47 billion to his net worth so far in 2021.
Last week, the French billionaire ended the day $800 million richer—with a net worth of $186 billion—after the company’s shares closed nearly half a percent higher in Europe, tying with Bezos for the number one spot. On the other hand, Amazon stock dropped by a little more than 1% on Friday, shaving $2.3 billion from Bezos’ net worth placing both men at the $186 billion-mark.
Arnault oversees an empire of 70 brands including Louis Vuitton and Sephora. He owns a 96.5 per cent stake in Christian Dior, which controls 41 per cent of LVMH. Earlier this year in January, LVMH completed a deal for American jeweler Tiffany & Co for $15.8 billion, believed to be the biggest luxury brand acquisition ever. LVMH spent $3.2 billion in 2019 for luxury hospitality group, Belmond, which owns or manages 46 hotels, trains and river cruises.
Arnault was born on March 5, 1949, in Roubaix, the third-largest city in France. He studied engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique, a prestigious school. For the unversed, Arnault’s father made a small fortune in construction. Arnault got his start by putting up $15 million from that business to buy Christian Dior in 1985.
In 1989, Arnault became the majority shareholder of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, thereby creating the world’s leading luxury products group. Note that four of Arnault’s five children work in corners of the LVMH empire: Frédéric, Delphine, Antoine and Alexandre.
It is worth adding that LVMH posted a record $16.7 billion revenues in the first quarter of 2021. LVMH’s strong recovery from the pandemic’s impact on the fashion industry helped Arnault grow more than $100 billion richer since the depths of the market rout in early March last year. Arnault was worth $76 billion on Forbes’ 2020 billionaires list, which was calculated using stock prices from mid-March 2020.
Neither Bezos nor Musk, this fashion tycoon is now the world’s richest
French fashion tycoon Bernard Arnault on Monday became the world’s richest person with an estimated net worth of $186.3 billion, according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List . The LVMH Chairman Bernard is now $300 million above Amazon’s Jeff Bezos with $186 billion and Tesla CEO Elon Musk on $147.3 billion.
As per the report, 72-year-old Arnault’s net worth has jumped from $76 billion in March 2020 to $186.3 billion today, a massive rise of over $110 billion in the past 14 months, thanks to a pandemic defying performance by his luxury group LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy).
LVMH, which also includes other major fashion brands under it like Fendi, Christian Dior and Givenchy, rose 0.4% during the first hours of trading on Monday, putting its market cap at $320 billion and pushing Arnault’s personal stake up more than $600 million.
LVMH reported first-quarter sales growth last month that beat analysts’ estimates, fueled by China and other Asian nations. Shares in the Paris-based owner of Christian Dior have surged more than 20% this year, helping Arnault, 72, to briefly overtake Elon Musk as the world’s second-richest person.
Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires rankings tracks the daily ups and downs of the world’s richest people. The wealth-tracking platform provides ongoing updates on the net worth and ranking of each individual confirmed by Forbes to be a billionaire. The value of individuals’ public holdings are updated every 5 minutes when respective stock markets are open (there will be a 15-minute delay for stock prices).
Meanwhile, Bloomberg earlier today reported that Arnault has spent about 440 million euros ($538 million) in recent months acquiring shares of the world’s largest luxury-goods maker, a sign of confidence that demand for $39,000 Louis Vuitton handbags and Dom Perignon champagne will thrive after the pandemic.
Arnault bought the stock through companies that he and his family control, with the latest transactions disclosed in regulatory filings this week.
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Elon Musk loses spot as world’s second richest man to Louis Vuitton’s Bernard Arnault
Elon Musk has fallen out of the spot for the world’s second richest man, being replaced by Louis Vuitton chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault.
According to real-time net worth tracking by Forbes, the 49-year-old Tesla and SpaceX executive has a fortune of $147.3 billion as of Tuesday afternoon. Meanwhile, Arnault’s fortune sits at $182.4 billion. Both men remain below Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who reigns as the world’s top billionaire at $188.5 billion.
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The drop in Musk’s net worth comes as Tesla stock is on pace for its fifth consecutive down week, the longest weekly losing streak since March 2018, and its worst month since March 2020.
Ticker Security Last Change Change % TSLA TESLA, INC. 606.44 +25.56 +4.40%
Shares of Tesla, which closed up slightly at $577.87 at the end of Tuesday’s trading session, are down 18.55% month-to-date and 18.11% year-to-date. The stock is also down 34.56% from its all-time closing high of $883.09 on Jan. 26, 2021.
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Musk’s recent comments have contributed to the volatility of cryptocurrency prices, including Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Ethereum.
Dogecoin plunged following Musk’s hosting gig on “Saturday Night Live” earlier this month, after he called the joke currency “a hustle” during the NBC variety show’s “Weekend Update” segment.
The meme token’s co-creator, Jackson Palmer, slammed Musk as a “self-absorbed grifter” in a tweet last week, before deleting it just a minute later.
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Musk’s decision on May 12 that Tesla would no longer be accepting Bitcoin payments for its cars has also added fuel to the fire, causing similar price declines with Bitcoin and Ethereum.
“We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” Musk said in a statement. “Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost to the environment.”
In addition to the reversal, Musk slammed Bitcoin for its “insane” energy consumption . According to Cambridge University’s Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index , the digital currency’s energy usage has grown steadily since 2016.
However, Musk has assured investors that he remains a strong proponent of cryptocurrencies and clarified on Monday that the electric vehicle manufacturer has not sold any of the $1.5 billion in Bitcoin purchased earlier this year.
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According to prices tracked by Coindesk, the world’s largest cryptocurrency remains off its all-time high of more than $63,000, currently trading around $43,000 per coin as of the time of publication Tuesday. Ethereum is trading around $3,400 per coin and Dogecoin is trading at about 47 cents per coin.