Elon Musk sits on top of the world.
But his reign could end in the coming weeks.
Blame it on a French billionaire. Bernard Arnault, the CEO of the luxury group LVMH (LVMHF) , is dangerously eyeing the throne of the tech tycoon.
The throne in question is that of the richest person in the world. Currently, Musk wears the crown. His fortune is estimated at $189 billion as of November 13, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The fortune of the serial entrepreneur, however, has fallen sharply. Since January, Musk has lost nearly $82 billion in nearly eleven months. He, who was one of the few to be part of the very select $200 billion club, is now under threat from Arnault.
The French businessman passed Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon (AMZN). He is currently the second richest man in the world, with a fortune valued at $160 billion. It has decreased by $18.3 billion since January. But for the past few days, Arnault has been the it billionaire.
Wealthy Customers Make a Difference
His fortune is growing faster than that of his peers. He is currently less than $30 billion from the top spot, but if his fortune continues to grow at the pace of the past few days, he could snatch the throne from Musk very soon.
LVMH reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter sales last month, as wealthy customers flocked to its fashion brands and Americans took advantage of the strong dollar to visit its stores in Europe.
Demand for luxury goods remains resilient to inflation, as affluent consumers have been less affected by the cost-of-living increase, which has led the average consumer to cut back on discretionary spending.
The third quarter revenue of the owner of Louis Vuitton and Dior amounted to 19.76 billion euros, representing organic growth of 19% over one year, the company said.
Sales in Europe, the United States and Japan have risen sharply since the start of the year, due to solid demand from local customers and the resumption of international travel.
However, the world's largest luxury group, which has also benefited from an improvement in its activities in China thanks to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, warned that sales of the jeweler Tiffany's products were slowing in the United States.
Musk is suffering from concerns surrounding the health of the economy. Investors believe that tech products and services will be the first that consumers will sacrifice in the face of an economic slowdown.
Bezos Out of the Top 3
Musk, much of whose fortune rests on his Tesla (TSLA) shares, is also impacted by the uncertainties surrounding the EV maker's production in China and the possible impact on Tesla of the acquisition of the social network Twitter.
Indian businessman Gautam Adani is the world's third-richest person, with a net worth of $138 billion, up $61.4 billion since January. Bezos is 4th. He is worth $124 billion, down by $68.4 billion since the start of the year. Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates is the 5th richest person in the world with an estimated fortune of $114 billion. His wealth has shrunk by $24.6 billion since January.
The rest of the top 10 is made up of three tech tycoons. Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle (ORCL), has a fortune of $92.2 billion, down $15 billion. He's ranked 7th. Larry Page, co-founder of Alphabet (GOOGL), is 9th with a fortune of $89.4 billion, down by $39 billion, while Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft, is 10th with a fortune of $88 billion, down by $17.7 billion.
The legendary investor Warren Buffett is the 6th richest person in the world. He is worth $109 billion, down from $166 billion. Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani is 8th. His fortune is estimated at $92.2 billion, up $2.2 billion since January.
