Bernard Arnault’s fortune soars past US$200 billion for first time
BERNARD Arnault’s net worth exceeded US$200 billion for the first time, making him just the third person to reach such heights of personal wealth.
The fortune of the French tycoon behind luxury-goods powerhouse LVMH grew by US$2.4 billion on Tuesday (Apr 4) to US$201.1 billion, a record high, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index showed. He joins Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos as the only individuals to have ever exceeded US$200 billion, and is the first person outside the United States to accomplish the feat.
Arnault, 74, surpassed Musk as the world’s richest person for the first time in December, with his LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton empire holding up better than the tech fortunes that dominate the Bloomberg ranking of the 500 richest people globally.
His net worth has climbed US$39 billion this year as demand for high-end products remains resilient.
LVMH’s stock price is at a record, benefitting from its announcement last month that it would buy back as much as 1.5 billion euros (S$2.2 billion) of its own shares.
The company posted a record 79.2 billion euros in sales last year, with revenue surpassing 20 billion euros at its cash cow, Louis Vuitton, which named musician-turned-entrepreneur Pharrell Williams as its new menswear designer in February.
Investors will have an opportunity to see how strong demand for LVMH’s Dior and Tiffany products is later this month, when the group reports first-quarter sales.
Many participants in a recent informal Bloomberg survey of merger and acquisition desks, fund managers and analysts expect Arnault’s group to snap up rivals in a tough competitive environment for smaller companies.
The billionaire was once dubbed “a wolf in cashmere” by a descendant of the Hermes dynasty after he launched a failed bid to take over the competing luxury group. BLOOMBERG
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