Bernard Arnault, the chairman and CEO of the French luxury goods and fashion company LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy), has become the richest man in the world as of Monday, with a net worth of $186.3 billion. Arnault's wealth increased by $110 billion over the past 14 months, surpassing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos by $300 million and Tesla CEO Elon Musk by $39 billion. Arnault's fortune grew due to the strong performance of LVMH, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
LVMH owns several well-known luxury brands such as Fendi, Christian Dior, and Givenchy. The company’s stock price rose by 0.4% at the start of trading today, adding $600 million to Arnault's wealth. Like many fashion and luxury goods companies globally, including Chanel, Kering Group, and L’Oréal, which have seen their fortunes double during the pandemic, LVMH's market value has reached $320 billion.
In January, LVMH completed the acquisition of American jewelry company Tiffany for $15.8 billion. The French group's revenue for the first quarter of this year was $14 billion.
