Fashion Tycoon Overtakes Bezos, Musk To Become World's Richest, Here's More About His Empire

The LVMH Chairman Bernard is $300 million richer than Amazon's Jeff Bezos with $186 billion and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has accumulated $147.3 billion.

Bernard Arnault. (Getty Images)

This time the world’s richest person tag has been overtaken by French fashion tycoon Bernard Arnault with an estimated net worth of $186.3 billion, according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List. The LVMH Chairman Bernard is $300 million richer than Amazon's Jeff Bezos with $186 billion and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has accumulated $147.3 billion.

How does Bernard Arnault’s business empire look like?

According to the Forbes, 72-year-old Arnault’s net worth has increased from $76 billion in March 2020 to $186.3 billion, a whopping gain of over $110 billion in the past 14 months. His luxury group LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) has been able to fight the pandemic blues to remain stronger.

Bernard Arnault is Chairman and CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, the world’s leading luxury products group. Born to an industrial family in Roubaix, France on March 5, 1949, Arnault attended the Roubaix lycée and the Faidherbe lycée in Lille. He then went on to study at the Ecole Polytechnique.

The luxury group comprising of major fashion brands including Fendi, Christian Dior, and Givenchy, rose 0.4 percent during the first hours of trading on Monday, which pushed the market cap at $320 billion and raising Arnault’s personal stake up more than $600 million.

In April, the group reported first-quarter sales growth exceeding the analysts’ estimates, fueled by China and other Asian nations. In fact, the Paris-based owner of Christian Dior stock rose more than 20 percent this year, helping the businessman to dethrone Elon Musk as the world’s second-richest person.

Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires rankings oversee the daily fluctuation in the wealth of the richest people. The wealth-tracking platform offers regular updates on the net worth and ranking of each individual to be determined as a billionaire. In fact, the value of individuals’ public holdings is changed every five minutes depending on their performance soon after the stock markets are open (there will be a 15-minute delay for stock prices).

Meanwhile, Arnault has invested about 440 million euros ($538 million) in the last few months in acquiring shares of the world’s largest luxury goods maker, which hints at the rising demand for $39,000 Louis Vuitton handbags and Dom Perignon champagne will thrive after the pandemic.