As of August 4th, Jeff Bezos is no longer the richest man on the planet. Bernard Arnault, the chairman and CEO of LVMH, surpassed the Amazon founder after Bezos’ net worth fell $13.9 billion in a day. According to CNBC, Arnault’s current worth is $195.8 billion as of Monday, whereas Bezos’ stood at $192.6 billion.
Apart from being the CEO of Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, better known as LVMH, Arnault is also an investor, and art collector. He owns a 47.5% share at LVMH, which has a market capitalization of $400 billion. Companies like Fendi, Givenchy, and Christian Dior, are also owned by LVMH.
While other sectors have suffered during the pandemic, LVMH recorded pre-pandemic sales figures in Asia, and the United States, with a rise in Chinese sales, due to the country’s economy coming out of the COVID-19 induced lull. Arnault gained considerable profit during the pandemic, with the French tycoon’s wealth growing by nearly $100 billion last year. He also owns a 95.6% stake in Christian Dior, which controls 41% of LVMH.
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On the other hand, Amazon’s stock went down on Friday, with management expecting the top line to increase just 10%-16% in the third quarter, much lower than the estimated values. The valuation also shows that the pandemic tailwind is over. Amazon shares closed down 7.6%, erasing nearly $120 billion of market value, resulting in Bezos’ demotion as the world’s richest man.
However, the net worth of Jeff Bezos still surpasses that of Elon Musk, the CEO and Chief Engineer of SpaceX and Tesla by $13 billion, making Musk the third richest man on the planet.
Bezos, Arnault, and Musk are all centibillionaires, meaning that each has had a net worth of at least $100 billion. Bernard Arnault is the only non American member of this ultra-wealthy club.