Bernard Arnault is CEO and founder of luxury goods company, LVMH
Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods company, has become the richest person in the world, surpassing Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
According to Forbes' real-time billionaires list, Arnault and his family are worth $207.8 billion as of Friday January 26, 2024, after a $23.6 billion increase in one day.
Musk's net worth dropped to $204.5 billion after Tesla shares fell 13% on Thursday. Bezos is worth $186 billion as of Monday.
LVMH, which owns brands like Louis Vuitton, Sephora, Fendi, and Tiffany & Co., saw its shares rise over 13% on Friday, following strong sales reports.
The company's market cap reached $388.8 billion, compared to Tesla's $586.14 billion.
LVMH's revenue for the first quarter of 2021 was $17 billion, up 32% from the same period in 2020.
Arnault's wealth has soared from $76 billion in March 2020 to $186.3 billion on Monday, an increase of over $110 billion in 14 months.
He is not the only European luxury tycoon to benefit from the COVID-19 lockdown. François Pinault of Kering Group, Alain and Gerard Wertheimer of Chanel, and Francoise Bettencourt Meyers of L'Oréal have also seen their net worth's double or nearly double since 2020.
Arnault is the first French citizen to top the Forbes billionaires list, which has been mostly dominated by Americans for the past two decades.
The only exception was Mexico's Carlos Slim, who briefly held the No. 1 spot in the early 2010s. Arnault later joined the top 10 in 2005, with a $13 billion fortune.
In January 2021, Elon Musk became the richest person in the world with a net worth of $189.7 billion.
That was a $165 billion increase from March 2020, when he was worth $24.6 billion.
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