By Gabriel Atumeyi
French fashion tycoon, Bernard Arnault, has become the world’s richest person, following a rise in the stock of his fashion company, Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy.
Arnault became the world’s richest person on Monday morning with an estimated net worth of $186.3bn, with Jeff Bezos following closely at $186bn and Elon Musk with $147.3bn, according to Forbes.
The top of Forbes’ billionaires’ list has been largely dominated by Americans over the years.
U.S citizens like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Bezos and Musk had claimed the number one spot for over twenty years, with only Mexico’s Carlos Slim disrupting their dominance for a short period.
Arnault became part of the top 10 richest men in 2005 when his net worth was $13bn.
In 2018, he climbed to the top five, and by 2019, he became the third-richest person with a $76bn fortune.
In 2019, he briefly became the world’s richest person at around 10:30 a.m. EST on December 16, when he edged past Bezos.
As Amazon’s stock closed higher, the French tycoon was knocked back to number two.
Arnault’s fortune experienced a massive rise of over $110bn in the past 14 months, moving from $76bn in March 2020 to $186.3bn on Monday.
The massive rise was attributed to the performance of his luxury group, LVMH, during the pandemic.
Arnault was born in France into the world of business and began his lucrative luxury career in 1971, working for the family real estate company Ferret-Savinel.
He was promoted to chairman in 1978, and remained in that role until 1984 when he was tasked with restructuring the Financière Agache holding company.
Within this role, the father-of-five strategised on developing leading luxury brands, acquiring Christian Dior as the spearhead of the new business.
LVMH was formed in 1987 under the merger of Louis Vuitton and champagne producer Moët Hennessy.
In 1989 Arnault became the majority shareholder of Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, a role he has held ever since.
His prestigious portfolio includes fashion labels such as Givenchy, Marc Jacobs and FENTY, luxury wines and spirits and champagne and wine brands, and perfumes and cosmetics.
LVHM owns 70+ brands and spent $3.2billion in 2019 on luxury hospitality group Belmond and acquired Tiffany & Co. for $15.8billion in January.
The company website says the LVHM model is ‘based on a long-term vision’ which ‘stimulates creativity and excellence.’
The company has around 163,000 employees and reported more than $58billion-worth of revenue in 2019.
The billionaire is married to pianist Hélène Mercier, who he shares children Alexandre, 29, and Frédéric, 26, and Jean, 23, with.
He was previously wed to Anne Dewavrin, 71, until 1990, and the pair share two children – Antoine, 43, and Delphine, 46.