The chief executive of luxury goods group LVMH Bernard Arnault has overtaken Elon Musk as the world’s richest man, according to Forbes and Bloomberg.
LVMH is the luxury goods conglomerate that owns brands such as Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, Bulgari and Dior. Arnault’s net worth is currently $187 billion (£155 billion).
Never before has anyone from France or Europe laid claim to having the largest fortune on the planet.
Who is Bernard Arnault?
Bernard Arnault is a French business magnate, investor and art collector.
He was born in Roubaix in the north of France in 1949 and received his engineering degree from the prestigious Polytechnique school. After that, he worked for the family business, Ferret Savinel, which specialised in industrial building, until relocating to the US in 1981 and starting a career in real estate development.
After returning to France, he entered the luxury goods market by acquiring the bankrupt textiles company Boussac Saint-Freres, which was home to Christian Dior, in 1984. He then bought a controlling interest in LVMH, whose two principal businesses, Louis Vuitton and Moet Hennessy had amalgamated in 1987, after spinning off the majority of the company's other operations.
In the ensuing three decades, Louis expanded LVMH into a global luxury juggernaut with more than 5,500 outlets selling champagne, wine, spirits, fashion, leather goods, watches, jewellery, hotel stays, perfume and cosmetics.
Built on mostly successful acquisitions LVMH has weathered the market this year much more robustly in comparison with Musk.
Shares of the Paris-based company have fallen just 9.7 per cent since the year began, surpassing the benchmark S&P 500.
When Covid-19 limits were abolished and more people were able to shop, the demand for luxury retail products surged, which helped LVMH's companies.
Why was Elon Musk kicked off the top list?
Musk is no longer the richest man in the world after a significant decline in the value of his shares in the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla this year.
Musk is Tesla's CEO and the company's top stakeholder, with an estimated 14 per cent stake.
He completed a $44 billion takeover of social network Twitter in October and Musk had to sell billions of dollars worth of Tesla shares to help fund his purchase, which helped to push the shares down.
Recalls and government inquiries into crashes and its autopilot system have also hurt Tesla.
According to Forbes, Musk is now worth about $176 billion (£142 billion), meanwhile, Arnault has a value of $187 billion (£152 billion).
