A billionaire|The value of the property of the Frenchman Bernard Arnault, who briefly held the title of the world’s richest person, has shrunk by more than 22 billion dollars during the calendar year.
World this year there has been an imaginary game of chairs around the title of the richest person, but now it seems that, at least for a while, some sort of order has been found.
The top spot in the list of 500 richest people maintained by the news agency Bloomberg is currently held by Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk and the founder of the digital giant Amazon sits in second place Jeff Bezos. According to Bloomberg’s estimate, Musk’s fortune is $244 billion on Friday, while Bezos’s is $203 billion.
In the game of chairs without a seat – or at least in third place – the French luxury product mogul has again been left behind Bernard Arnault With a fortune of $185 billion.
One however, Arnault gets the title. According to the Bloomberg listing, the value of his assets has decreased by more than 22 billion dollars this year, which is the most among the billionaires on the list.
The decline in Arnault’s assets this week overtook China’s richest man, who has become especially rich in bottled water Zhong Shanshanwhose asset value, according to Bloomberg, has fallen by a good 18 billion dollars since the beginning of the year.
Musk, whose property value fell, was responsible for the heaviest daily drop of the year According to Bloomberg by as much as 21.7 billion dollars on Wednesday alone, when the result of electric car manufacturer Tesla fell short of investors’ expectations.
According to Bloomberg, the daily drop in Musk’s fortune was the fifth largest market-driven drop in the 12-year history of the entire billionaire list.
Arnaultin the reason behind this week’s fall in assets is the same thing that once brought him to the top of the billionaire list: the development of the share price of the luxury goods giant LVMH.
Arnault and his family own almost half of the luxury group’s shares, so the development of the company’s course is also quickly reflected in Arnault’s calculated assets.
The brands of the LVMH group include the fashion brands Louis Vuitton, Kenzo, Fendi and Givenchy and the alcohol brands Moët & Chandon, Hennessy and Belvedere.
The second quarter result announced by LVMH on Tuesday fell short of market expectations, and especially the 14 percent drop in the company’s sales in China seemed to worry investors.
The company’s share price fell by almost five percent after the earnings announcement on Wednesday. Since the turn of the year, LVMH’s share price has already fallen by about 10 percent.
Arnault topped Bloomberg’s billionaires list for the first time in December 2022, when his fortune surpassed Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk’s.
Musk took the top spot back in early summer 2023, but since then the order of the top three on the list has changed several times. Bloomberg said after mid-June that since May 29 alone, the order of the trio had already changed six times.
The seemingly large movements in the value of the assets of the world’s richest people are explained by the fact that the vast majority of the assets of people like Musk, Arnault and Bezos are tied up in the shares of the listed companies they own.
Movements in the share price are therefore directly reflected in the calculated assets of billionaires.
All luxury goods companies have not slipped on the stock market this year, but Arnault is not the only super-rich in the industry whose fortunes have shrunk significantly.
The luxury group owns more than 42 percent of Kering’s shares through its investment company Francois Pinaultin according to the Bloomberg listing, the value of assets has decreased by 9.5 billion dollars this year. Kering’s share price has fallen by almost 30 percent since the beginning of the year.
Kering’s brands include Gucci, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga.