Elon Musk is no longer the richest man in the world. He was until last Tuesday, December 13, the date on which he gave up the top spot in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to Bernard Arnault. Musk has fun tweeting, frequently seeks media exposure, and has a fortune from his business in the tech world. Arnold is not a fan of social networks; he prefers to avoid public appearances and made his empire thanks to the luxury industry.
Now that Musk has left the top millionaire position for the fashion mogul, we might think that Arnault increased his wealth in 2022 to climb the ranks. Nothing is further from reality. Both businessmen experienced billion-dollar drops in their assets, but those of the new owner of Twitter were so pronounced that they ended up wiping out much of his fortune. However, he is still occupying the not-inconsiderable second place.
Arnault “wins” with the fall of Musk.
According to the Bloomberg above index, Musk has seen how 138,000 million dollars vanished from his assets in 2022. The businessman of South African origin held 270,000 million dollars at the beginning of this year. Still, his fortune has been reduced to 132,000 million at the close of the market on December 28. These values translate into 51.11% less value of the set of assets related to the CEO of Tesla.
As we can see, billionaires’ fortunes are dynamic and can change from one day to the next. These are calculated considering the price of the person’s shares and assets such as real estate, art, and more. Precisely, the fall of almost 70% in Tesla shares has contributed significantly to the loss of Elon Musk’s assets and, to a lesser extent, the sale of these to finance part of the purchase of Twitter.
Arnault’s wealth, mainly from his stake in LVMH, the company behind Louis Vuitton, has suffered a much more contained decline than Musk’s. The French businessman, now the richest in the world, started this year with 178,000 million dollars in his power, and at the close of the market yesterday, he was with 162,000 million dollars. That is 16,000 million dollars, 8.99% of his assets, vanished in 2022.
But… how much is 162,000 million dollars? Bloomberg data tells us that Arnault could use his fortune to buy nearly 10% of all homes in the United States or 89 million ounces of gold (each equals 28.70 grams). However, let’s remember only a part of the entrepreneur’s assets “is in the bank” and can be used immediately.
Arnault was born in Roubaix, in northern France, in 1949. From an early age, he discovered his passion for engineering. This impulse led him to graduate from the prestigious École Polytechnique school and start working at the family-owned construction company Ferret-Savinel, which became president on several occasions from 1978. Later, however, it would completely change its course.
In 1984, according to The New York Times, he learned that the French government was looking for an investor to take over a textile group called Boussac Saint-Freres that had gone bankrupt. Despite that company’s financial misfortune, he had an asset not lost on Arnault: Christian Dior. So, the businessman bought the company and took it upon himself to revitalize it.
Later, in 1989, it took control of most of LVMH, a group formed from the merger of Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessy. Arnault, a technical man with proven business skills, repeated the Boussac Saint-Freres formula and made LVMH the world’s largest luxury goods company, with brands such as Tiffany & Co, Louis Vuitton, Loro Piana, and Kenzo.
Sharlene Meriel is an avid gamer with a knack for technology. He has been writing about the latest technologies for the past 5 years. His contribution in technology journalism has been noteworthy. He is also a day trader with interest in the Forex market.
