French Tycoon Leapfrogs Musk on Forbes List
By RT News
The CEO of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, has topped the 2023 World’s Billionaires ranking.
Elon Musk is no longer the world’s richest man, according to Forbes. The top spot on the magazine’s 2023 World’s Billionaires list, published on Tuesday, belongs to French luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault.
The 74-year-old founder and CEO of LVMH Group is worth $211 billion, which is $31 billion more than Musk, who has fallen to second place, according to Forbes’ calculations.
LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) is the world’s largest luxury goods conglomerate, managing more than 70 brands, including Fendi, Christian Dior, Givenchy, and Tiffany.
The multinational holding’s revenue, profits and shares have climbed to record highs over the past 12 months, adding $53 billion to Arnault’s fortune, the biggest gain of any billionaire this year, Forbes writes.
Arnault first appeared on the Forbes’ billionaires list in 1997, when he was worth $3.6 billion. By 2005, he had vaulted into the top 20 richest people on the planet, with his fortune growing to $17 billion. In 2011, he reached fourth place at $41 billion. For the past three years, he’s been ranked third, trailing Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Over the past two years, Elon Musk has broken the world record for the largest loss of personal fortune in history. His net worth dropped from a peak of $320 billion in 2021 to $138 billion as of January 6, 2023, Guinness World Records announced at the time, citing calculations by Forbes. The drop was largely attributable to the poor performance of Tesla’s stock. Musk’s wealth was also dented by his purchase of Twitter last year.
The World’s Billionaires is a ranking of the richest people by their documented net worth compiled and published annually by the American business magazine Forbes.
