Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH, has knocked Elon Musk off the top spot on Forbes' 2023 billionaires list. Arnault, who has a $211 billion fortune, has added an incredible $53 billion to his net worth over the past 12 months, making him the world's richest person alive.
You may know LVMH as the parent company of over 70 high-end brands like Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Givenchy, Tiffany’s, Marc Jacobs, Sephora, Fenty Beauty, and more. Arnault has been the head of LVMH for roughly three decades and has helped grow the luxury goods company’s revenue from $4 billion in 1989 to $86 billion last year, according to Forbes.
Arnault first made the Forbes list in 1997 when he was worth $3.1 billion, and he has risen through the ranks in the years following until he hit the top five richest people in 2011. The 74-year-old CEO has maintained loyal customers through long-standing and respected design houses like Louis Vuitton and Dior while expanding the company with new modern brands like Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty, which launched in 2019.
Arnault had claimed Musk’s number-one spot in last year’s list with $31 billion more than the 51-year-old SpaceX CEO. For the past three years, he has been third on the Billionaires list behind Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. But this year, Arnault has taken the crown with the largest jump of any billionaire on the list.
Arnault is now preparing for succession and has named one of his five children, his 47-year-old daughter Delphine Arnault, CEO of Dior in January. What a remarkable achievement for Bernard Arnault!
