Bernard Arnault, the chairman and CEO of luxury goods giant Louis Vuitton, has surpassed Tesla CEO Elon Musk to become the world’s richest person, as per Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires list. On January 26, Arnault and his family’s net worth soared to $207 billion after a $23.6 billion increase, surpassing Musk’s $204 billion.
This change follows a remarkable 12% surge in LVMH’s share price at the close of business on Friday, driven by robust sales reports. Arnault, aged 74, oversees an empire of 75 fashion and cosmetics brands, including iconic names like Louis Vuitton and Sephora. In 2021, he acquired the luxury brand for $16 billion, marking it as one of the most significant purchases at that time. Arnault had also appointed two of his children to the company’s board.
Despite this, Elon Musk maintains the top position on the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos following. Musk’s net worth has seen a decrease of over $30 billion since 2024, narrowing the gap between him and Bezos.
Meanwhile, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, experienced a substantial increase in his net worth, reaching $22 billion after gaining over $6 billion. This surge was propelled by a bullish run in the share price of his company, Dangote Cement, with a notable one-day increase of over $1 billion on January 23. Earlier in January, Dangote briefly lost the title of Africa’s richest man to South Africa’s Johann Rupert.
The Bloomberg Billionaire Index data reveals that on January 23, Dangote’s net worth increased by over $1 billion, followed by an additional $282 million the next day, driven by the continued bullish run of Dangote Cement at the Nigeria Exchange Limited.
