Dethroning billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos from their former rankings, the CEO of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton has pinched the designation of the individual with the highest net worth on the planet. Arnault’s new title is credited in part with the recent performance of the French luxury goods giant he controls.

His personal fortune includes an ownership stake in LVMH of almost 50% and was valued by Forbes in early April at $211 billion, as opposed to $158 billion the previous year. According to the Forbes’ real-time billionaires tracker, the net worth acquired by Arnault was $235.7 billion as of Tuesday afternoon.

LVMH’s sales in 2022 totaled 79.18 billion euros, highlighting a 23 percent increase from the 64.215 billion euros generated in 2021. For group share of net profit, LVMH had a 17 percent increase year-over-year, jumping to 14.01 billion euros in 2022 from 12.04 billion euros in 2021.

The luxury goods conglomerate reported revenue of 21.03 billion euros in its most recent quarter, an increase from 18 billion in the first quarter of 2022.

“Europe and Japan, which enjoyed strong growth momentum, benefited from robust demand from local customers and international travelers; the United States, a market which continues to grow, had a steady performance,” stated LVMH in its quarterly earnings release for April. “Asia experienced a significant rebound following the lifting of health restrictions.”

Both Musk and Bezos suffered a one-step drop, with the former ranking second at $180 billion, and the latter getting third place at $114 billion. As of Tuesday afternoon, Musk’s net worth rang in at $187.4 billion while Bezos scored a cool $125.4 billion, according to Forbes real-time tracker.

Add comment