Proactive Investors - Bernard Arnault, chairman of French luxury goods maker LVMH, has once again surpassed Elon Musk as the world’s richest person, after the 74-year-old’s fortune increased by $2.4 billion on Tuesday to $201 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Arnault’s wealth has risen by $39 billion so far this year as LVMH shares have climbed 30% due to soaring demand for luxury goods.
Musk, meanwhile, has seen his fortune fall following his $44 billion purchase of Twitter as well as a 50% decline in the value of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock over the past year.
Musk has a 13% ownership stake in the electric car company.
Arnault joins Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN).com’s Jeff Bezos and Musk as the only individuals to have ever amassed more than $200 billion in wealth.
Bezos was the first person to hit the $200 billion milestone in August 2020, but is now the world’s third-richest person with an estimated $128 billion fortune as the share-price performances of many technology stocks have suffered over the past year.
LVMH, which owns the Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Moët & Chandon champagne brands, has seen its stock price soar more than 150% in the past three years.
The company generated a record €79.2bn in sales last year and recently announced a stock buyback of up to €1.5 billion.