As reported by The Economic Times, French luxury billionaire Bernard Arnault has left the top 10 of the richest people on the planet, leaving a ranking now entirely made up of Americans, mainly from tech.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Arnault’s fortune has fallen to $143 billion, putting him behind Warren Buffett, the 96-year-old philanthropist who heads Berkshire Hathaway.
Elon Musk largely dominates the ranking with a fortune estimated at $918.8 billion, followed by tech entrepreneurs such as Larry Page, Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin and Michael Dell.
The decline of the boss of LVMH has been particularly accentuated since the start of the year: his fortune has fallen by 65 billion dollars, the largest drop recorded among the 500 richest people in the world. Aged 77, Arnault had been among the ten greatest fortunes in the world since March 2017, with even a brief stint in first place from December 2022, he was then the first non-North American, and the only tycoon in the consumer sector, to reach this summit.
This performance dates back to a very different period for the luxury industry, driven by demand from Chinese consumers and the purchasing frenzy that followed the lifting of restrictions linked to the pandemic. If LVMH shares had reached a record in April 2023, the group has since suffered from almost zero demand in China, uncertainty linked to American customs duties, and a drop in alcohol consumption in certain markets.
Arnault’s fortune now sits just above that of Jim Walton, second-generation heir to the Walmart group.
