Bernard Arnault is the CEO and majority owner of the luxury group LVMH and just for a day he overtook Amazon’s Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest person.
If you don’t know who Arnault is, I covered him in our series of the history of LVMH. To catch you up to speed really quick, he managed to oust the original owners of the LVMH group through some 4D chess-style power plays. And who would’ve guessed that it paid off.
At the time, Arnault’s net worth was standing at US$186.3 billion, according to Forbes. This is just past Bezos who was valued at US$186 billion. On May 25th, Bezos regained his throne with an estimated net worth of US$188.2 billion.
If you’re unsure what LVMH is, it’s the parent company behind brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior, Moët, Hennessy, and Tiffany. We did a story on the company’s origins if you interested in finding out more.
The reason for Arnault’s rise to the throne is because over the last few months, LVMH sales have recovered greatly from the pandemic as Chinese and US customers flocked back to stores. This rise in sales saw LVMH’s stock price rise too which meant that Arnault’s wealth went up with it.
Previously, Arnault’s family owned 47.5% of LVMH’s shares but has since spent a further US$583 million buying up more stock of the company and the price keeps growing. LVMH to the moon!
Will Arnault take the top spot again? It’s possible but I don’t think anyone on the rich list is doing business to get on the top of a list.