In the recent Forbes real-time billionaires' report, Louis Vuitton CEO Bernard Arnault's net worth has exceeded Jeff Bezos' net worth by a few billion.
Bernard Arnault Net Worth: More Than $180 Billion
In the Forbes list, Bernard Arnault and family's net worth is at $190 billion at the time of writing.
But who is Arnault? Forbes noted that he is one of the world's most influential businessmen who runs a 70-brand empire including Louis Vuitton and Sephora. Moreover, Frédéric, Delphine, Antoine and Alexandre Arnault are four of Arnault's five children that work for LVMH.
How Did Louis Vuitton CEO Surpass Jeff Bezos' Net Worth?
According to Financhill, COVID-19 slowed down worldwide travel, and continuous travel restrictions affected people's spending habits. Since the economy reopened, individuals began to spend on status symbols to demonstrate their wealth when reconnecting with friends, family, and acquaintances in real life.
In early 2021, demand for luxury products in China soared, resulting in record revenues and a buying frenzy in LVMH stock.
The Louis Vuitton CEO is known for lavish spending, yet he also carefully reinvests the profits of his firm. To ensure consistent quality and delivery on a worldwide scale, the organization is both vertically and horizontally organized.
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Arnault, like renowned investor Warren Buffett, examines a firm to see where it will be in 10 years. He works the long game and creates a roadmap for his company's long-term ambitions.
Through this, he constructed a roadmap that couldn't simply be overtaken by either retail giants, Amazon and Walmart.
Bernard Arnault Career
To further emphasize the start of the Louis Vuitton CEO's career, Arnault began at his father's civil engineering firm, Ferret-Savinet, in Roubaix, France, in 1949, per Financhill.
After a few years of his term, the corporation switched into real estate before purchasing a textile company. Since his mother was fascinated with Christian Dior, he purchased the firm and earned the nickname "The Terminator."
The said nickname started when he fired off 9,000 employees and sold off most of the firm's profits, leaving just the Dior brand and the Le Bon Marche department store.
Dior was bankrupt before the French business mogul purchased the company. After purchasing, he rebuilt it by removing anything aside from the name. He positioned the firm in such a way that it could continue to make enough money to support LVMH and its subsidiaries.
Despite the fact that he values quality, he says that he doesn't care about money.
On the other hand, by 1988, he had formed a holding company with Guinness and invested more than $2.1 billion to become the dominant stakeholder in LVMH.
With that, LVMH added that in 1989, Arnault acquired a majority stake in LVMH Moët Hennessy - Louis Vuitton, establishing the world's largest luxury goods company. Since that time, he has served as Chairman and CEO of the firm.
Along with the above-listed companies, the corporation owns high-end fashion brands including Fendi and Givenchy. Additionally, within the first quarter of 2021, Arnault momentarily became the world's richest person as the company brought in $17 billion in sales. This is a 32 percent increase over the same quarter of 2020.
