Bernard Arnault, a fashion industry executive from France with a net worth of $211 billion, has surpassed the Tesla founder and CEO of Twitter to become the wealthiest person on Forbes' 2023 billionaires list.
The 74-year-old CEO of LVMH, responsible for over 70 luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Givenchy, Tiffany's, Marc Jacobs, Sephora, and Fenty Beauty, has seen the biggest increase in net worth among billionaires this year, according to Forbes. He added an impressive $53 billion to his fortune in the past 12 months.Last year, he surpassed the 51-year-old CEO of SpaceX, taking the top spot on the list with $31 billion more than Musk. He has been third on the Billionaires list for the past three years, behind Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
In 1997, he first made the Forbes list when he was worth $3.1 billion and continued to rise through the ranks until he became one of the top five richest people in 2011. As the head of LVMH for nearly three decades, he helped increase the luxury goods company’s revenue from $4 billion in 1989 to $86 billion last year, with the company's stock surging by 35% over the past year.
By maintaining loyal customers through traditional design houses such as Louis Vuitton and Dior and expanding the company with modern brands like Fenty Beauty, launched in 2019 by Rhianna, Arnault has achieved continued success. In January, he appointed his 47-year-old daughter as the CEO of Dior as he prepares for succession among his five children.