There’s a new richest man in town, and this one would rather take folks to the mall than to the moon.
With his costly purchase of Twitter, Tesla owner Elon Musk saw his fortune fall to $163.3 billion, making Bernard Arnault, owner of 48% of the luxury fashion company LVMH, the new richest man in the world, according to Bloomberg. It was once estimated that Musk was worth $340 billion.
The 73-year-old man makes history as the first European to ever take first place.
While Arnault’s large estate is significantly smaller than what Musk’s was at its peak, the entrepreneur has established quite an empire while living a very quiet life. Let’s look at Bernard Arnault Net Worth.
Bernard Arnault Net Worth
He tops Forbes’ list of the wealthiest people in the world. As per the real-time update, Bernard Arnault Net Worth in 2023 is $220.4 Billion. LVMH, the largest luxury goods firm in the world, is headed by Bernard Arnault.
Louis Vuitton Mot Hennessy is a luxury conglomerate that presently owns over 70 different brands; 47.5 percent of the company is owned by Bernard Arnault and his family. LVMH is not only of France but also the world’s largest luxury goods corporation and it has more than 60 subsidiaries.
Christian Dior, Fendi, Marc Jacobs, Sephora, Tag Heuer, Bulgari, and Tiffany & Co. are among the names in this category. The company founded by Bernard Arnault sells a wide variety of luxury items, including wines, champagnes, spirits, clothing, shoes, handbags, watches, jewelry, and cosmetics. Over six thousand of their stores can be found in different countries.
Bernard Arnault Early Life
At Roubaix, France, on March 5, 1949, was born Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault. Jean Léon Arnault Sr. was an industrialist and École Centrale Paris alum. His father, Étienne Savinel, ran the civil engineering firm Ferret-Savinel, and his mother, Marie-Josèphe Savinel, was his daughter.
In 1950, Savinel granted his son-in-law Jean Léon Arnault (Bernard’s father) control of Ferret-Savinel and eventually gave him ownership. In 1971, Bernard earned a degree in engineering from the École Polytechnique in Paris, France.
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How Did Bernard Arnault Earn His Fortune?
Bernard Arnault became wealthy as the head of the luxury goods company LVMH. Arnault rescued Christian Dior from bankruptcy in the 1980s.
The success of Dior allowed him to fund the acquisition of other high-end companies, including Louis Vuitton, Moet & Hennessy, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, Tag Heuer, Bulgari, and Tiffany & Co. (thus the “LVMH” acronym). LVMH now manages over 60 brands and pulls in about $70 billion annually. LVMH is worth approximately $384 billion at the time of this writing.
Even now, Bernard and the rest of the Arnault family own 97% of Dior outright, and Dior has a 41% stake in LVMH. The family also holds direct ownership of 7% of LVMH. They’re entitled to more than half of the vote.
Outside of LVMH, Bernard owns two vineyards in France, a fleet of Princess Yachts, five percent of Carrefour (the largest supermarket chain in France), and a priceless collection of Picassos and Warhols worth tens of billions of dollars.
As of June of this year (2019), Bernard Arnault’s wealth has officially exceeded $100 billion. He was the third wealthiest man on the earth at the time.
As of the end of July 2019, his wealth had risen to over $108 billion, making him the world’s second-wealthiest individual (behind Bill Gates, by about $400 million). In December of 2022, his net worth of $171 billion overtook Elon Musk’s $168 billion, making him the richest person in the world at the time.
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