Bernard Arnault Net Worth: How The World's Richest Man Dethroned Elon Musk

Bernard Arnault, the chairman and CEO of French luxury goods giant LVMH (LVMHF), has become the world's richest man, dethroning Elon Musk on Bloomberg's list of the world's wealthiest people.

Arnault's wealth, an estimated $171 billion, surpassed the Tesla CEO's $164 billion fortune on Tuesday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Last week, he also replaced Musk from the top spot on Forbes' "Real Time Billionaires" list.

Musk has seen his net worth decline as shares of Tesla have plunged from $313.80 on Sept. 21. As of 3:42 p.m. ET on Wednesday, shares of Tesla were trading at $152.42, down $4.53, or 2.82%.

LVMH has labels such as Moët Hennessy, Dom Perignon, and Christian Dior. According to Bloomberg News, Arnault has helped turn LVMH into the world's largest luxury-goods conglomerate.

The company's assets have innovated with changing trends after recently acquiring fashion houses, such as Marc Jacobs, the late Virgil Abloh's Off White at Louis Vuitton, and Phoebe Philo at Celine, keeping them relevant to high-end fashion consumers. In January 2021, it completed its $15.8 billion takeover of U.S. jeweler Tiffany & Co., the biggest acquisition in the luxury goods industry.

The move to acquire Tiffany & Co. has been a boon for Arnault, who was worth $106.9 million in November 2019.

But Arnault was seeing his net worth skyrocket before the deal. Bloomberg's Billionaire Index showed his net worth was $68.6 billion on Jan. 1, 2019. At the time, he was trailing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, famed investor Warren Buffett and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

Arnault, 73, was born in Roubaix, France, and graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique, an engineering school in Paris. He began his career in the family-owned construction company, Ferret-Savinel, becoming chairman in 1978. He then invested in Boussac Saint-Freres, a textile group that owned assets in Christian Dior, in the mid-1980s.

Arnault bought Boussac Saint-Freres and then developed the world's leading luxury goods company. He helped reinvigorated Christian Dior as a top brand.

After he bought a controlling stake in LVMH in 1989 the brand merged Louis Vuitton, Moët, and Hennessy, expanding its assets. LVMH now has over 175,000 employees and owns 75 luxury labels.

LVMH reported $68 billion in sales last year, with Arnault and his family owning approximately 48% of the shares in the company and with 64% of the voting rights. Earlier this year, LVMH increased the age limit of its chief executive officer, allowing Arnault to remain in charge until he turns 80.

Arnault's investment holding company Financiere Agache merged with French asset manager Tikehau Capital last year to start a purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that will hunt for deals in Europe's financial services sector.