Who is Bernard Arnault, who just became the richest person in the world

Bernard Arnault, chairman of French luxury goods giant LVMH, has just become the first European to top Bloomberg’s list of the world’s richest people, relegating Elon Musk to second place.

Now worth $171 billion, Arnault’s wealth eclipsed the Tesla CEO’s $164 billion fortune on Tuesday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Arnault already knocked Musk out of the top spot on Forbes’ “Real-Time Billionaires” list last week.

Musk’s net worth is down $107 billion this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Arnault’s wealth, which comes from his majority stake in LVMH, has seen a more modest decline of $7 billion.

The divergence is due in part to the performance of the stocks of the companies in which the pair own shares. Musk’s purchase of Twitter didn’t help either. Still, he is in no imminent danger of slipping further down the list: his fortune remains comfortably larger than that of Indian industrialist Gautam Adani ($125 billion) and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ($116 billion), which rank third and fourth on the Bloomberg list.

While Tesla’s share price is down 54% this year, LVMH’s shares have held steady, supported by robust sales in the US and Europe. The luxury market has remained relatively stable this year, even as rising inflation has prompted less wealthy buyers to change their spending habits. LVMH has a market value of €362.4 billion ($386 billion).

Keeping a low profile

Born in Roubaix, in northern France, in 1949, Arnault graduated from the prestigious École Polytechnique, an engineering school in Paris. He began his career at the family-owned construction company Ferret-Savinel, becoming chairman in 1978 after successive promotions.

Six years later, he learned that the French government was looking for a new investor to take over Boussac Saint-Frères. The bankrupt textile group had an important asset: Christian Dior, a celebrated French fashion house.

Arnault bought control of the group, returning it to profitability and embarking on a strategy to develop the world’s leading luxury goods company. “In the process, he reinvigorated Christian Dior as the cornerstone of the new organization,” according to a biography on the LVMH website.

Arnault bought a controlling stake in LVMH in 1989, two years after the group was formed by the merger of Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessy. He has been president and CEO of the company ever since.

While his own name may not be immediately recognizable to many, the brands Arnault helped develop – from Christian Dior to Dom Pérignon – have become household names.

Over the past three decades, Arnault has built LVMH into a luxury goods powerhouse with 75 labels selling wine, spirits, fashion, leather goods, perfumes, cosmetics, watches, jewelry, luxury travel and hotel stays. He opened China’s first Louis Vuitton store in Beijing in 1992.

In January 2021, the group completed its $15.8 billion acquisition of iconic American jewelery Tiffany & Co, the largest acquisition in the luxury industry.

Arnault’s philanthropic endeavors are carried out primarily through LVMH, which focuses its sponsorship on arts and culture. In 2019, the group donated 200 million euros ($212 million) to help rebuild Notre Dame after a massive fire hit the Paris cathedral.

Arnault has long held the title of Europe’s richest person, but the 73-year-old keeps a much lower profile than Musk and is not personally active on any major social media platforms. In October, he told LVMH-owned Radio Classique that he sold his private jet because he had been shamed on Twitter for his frequent use of the plane.

Arnault is married with five children, all currently working at LVMH or one of its brands, according to Bloomberg.