Bernard Arnault is officially the world’s richest person, according to the the most recent rounds of billionaire rankings.
The 74 year old — who oversees the LVMH empire of 75 fashion and cosmetics brands — is said by Forbes to be worth approximately $211 billion USD, a figure that sees Arnault surpass former number one, Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
Arnault’s move to alpha billionaire keeps well in line with the latest LVMH revenue reportsreports from 2022, which proved to be a record-breaking year despite the geopolitical and economic situation. The rich get richer, as they say.
The LVMH luxury conglomerate saw revenue of €79.2 billion (approximately $86 billion USD) at the beginning of 2022 and a €21.1 billion profit (approximately $23 billion USD), which together resulted in a 23% increase in financial fortunes compared to those of the previous year.
On a more granular level, it was further reported that revenue for the Louis Vuitton house alone surpassed €20 billion for the first time — likely to be surpassed by the 2023 results, which will include the heavily promoted Yayoi Kusama collaboration — while other LVMH-owned houses like Dior, Celine, Fendi, Loro Piana, Loewe, and Marc Jacobs also reaching their own record levels of revenue in the past year.
As well as overtaking Musk in the recent Forbes billionaires rankings, Arnault now sits above names like Jeff Bezos (3rd), Bill Gates (6th), and Françoise Bettencourt, the CEO of L’Oreal, which recently acquired Aesop for $2.5 billion USD, beating out rival LVMH in the reported bidding war for the beauty brand.
Either way, while Arnault's position in Forbes' billionaires rankings doesn't directly bear direct correlation to the performance of LVMH or any specific brands — Arnault's fortunes have been calculated by estimating the value of personal holdings under his purview that go beyond business — his deep coffers do suggest that the Frenchman is probably doing something right.
