Bernard Arnault, the CEO of Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy and the world’s richest person according to Forbes, lost $11.2 billion in a single day due to a steep fall in his company’s share price.
Shares of LVMH nosedived by 5% during trading at the Euronext exchange in Paris amid a broader sell-off of EU luxury stocks. Market participants were concerned that a US economic downturn would weigh down on demand for luxury goods. This led to major losses for LVMH’s CEO.
Bernard Arnault’s company owns such luxury brands as Louis Vuitton, Moet & Chandon, Christian Dior, and others. Over the past year, its stock price advanced by 23%. Bernard Arnault’s net worth jumped by $53 billion in 2022, the largest such gain among the world’s super-rich. These profits propelled LVMH’s CEO to the top spot on the Forbes list of richest people in April 2023. Out of the top 3 richest billionaires, he remains the only businessman who is not connected to the tech sector.
Despite the recent mind-boggling losses, Bernard Arnault has managed to hold on to the top spot in the Forbes list. His net worth is currently estimated at $191.6 billion. The gap between Bernard Arnault and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the world’s second-richest person, has narrowed to $11.4 billion.
