Bill Gates has been unseated as
the second richest man in the world, losing the position to Bernard Arnault,
the chairman and CEO of LVMH.
The News Agency of Nigeria
reports that in the latest ranking by Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, Arnault
is in second place with Jeff Bezos still retaining the first place.
Arnault and his family are the
majority owners of Christian Dior and LVMH, parent of such brands as Louis
Vuitton, Celine, Fendi, Moët, Hennessy, Dom Pérignon, and others.
As LVMH’s share price has soared
in 2019, so has Arnault’s worth. It now stands at about $107.6 billion, more
than $200 million ahead of Gates, Bloomberg estimates.
The report also stated that Gates
would had been ranked the richest person, even ahead of Bezos if not for his
philanthropic giveaways which gave Arnault more room to climb.
The French entrepreneur entered
the luxury industry in 1984, when he bought Boussac, a textile empire in the
midst of bankruptcy that owned Dior.
The famed label by then had
deteriorated by licensing its name out to companies producing sub-par products.
Arnault set about reviving it,
turning it into a vertically integrated company that did its own production,
distribution, and marketing.
He went on to buy up other
brands, such as Céline, and in 1988 engineered the deal that made him the
majority shareholder of LVMH.
Forbes currently ranks Dior as
the world’s largest fashion brand based on sales, profits, assets, and market
value.
Meanwhile, LVMH on the whole,
keeps attracting customers around the world, with China being the latest highly
profitable frontier.
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