Bernard Arnault, the French tycoon behind luxury giant LVMH, has dethroned Elon Musk as the world’s richest person, according to Forbes‘ real-time billionaires list.
Arnault’s net worth soared to $207.8 billion on Friday, fuelled by a $23.6 billion surge, surpassing Musk’s $204.5 billion.
Tesla, Musk’s electric car company, saw its stock plummet 13 per cent on Thursday, eroding over $18 billion from his net worth.
Meanwhile, LVMH shares soared over 13 per cent Friday, riding a wave of optimism following strong sales reports.
Arnault oversees the LVMH empire of 75 fashion and cosmetics brands, including Louis Vuitton and Sephora.
In 2021, LVMH acquired American jeweller Tiffany & Co. for $16 billion, an acquisition believed to be the largest luxury brand purchase ever.
Arnault has five children, Delphine, Antoine, Alexandre, Frédéric, and Jean, who all have official roles in brands controlled by Arnault.
Arnault, on January 25, nominated two more of his children to sit on the company board.
Agache, Arnault’s holding company, backs venture capital firm, Aglaé Ventures, which owns investments in businesses such as Netflix and ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company.
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