French luxury billionaire Bernard Arnault and his family topped the list of richest billionaires, ahead of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk in second place.
Mr. Arnault is the patriarch of the family that controls the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy brand empire, which includes Sephora, Tiffany, Christian Dior and Stella McCartney, and was worth $230 billion as of Monday. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The French giant, the only non-American on the list of the top 10 richest business leaders, has seen his wealth increase by nearly $23 billion since the beginning of the year.
Arnault and his family control about half of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods maker, which had revenues of $93.2 billion last year.
Bezos, the founder of e-commerce giant Amazon, is the second richest person in the world.
His net worth is valued at $204 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Mr. Bezos derives his wealth from Amazon stock, which represents about 12% of the company’s outstanding shares, or about 880 million shares.
Earlier this year, Bezos sold 50 million shares worth about $8.5 billion.
His wealth was also boosted by the stock price performance of the companies he founded.
Since January 1st, Amazon’s stock price has increased more than 20%. This is despite increasing competition in e-retail from foreign-based startups Shein and Tem.
Bezos has surpassed Musk on the list of billionaires even as Tesla stock has plunged more than 32% since the beginning of the year.
Mr. Musk’s electric car company is being squeezed by weak demand and intense competition from China-based rival BYD.
Tesla stock was down nearly 5% as of 2pm ET on Tuesday after the company reported its first annual revenue decline since 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic began.
Tesla said it built 433,000 cars last year but was able to deliver only 387,000 to customers.
Musk, 52, who previously reigned as the world’s richest tycoon, has been relegated to third place on the list with a fortune valued at $189 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
In addition to owning a 13% stake in Tesla, Musk is also responsible for social media platform
Since January 1, Mr. Musk’s fortune has fallen by more than $40 billion.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who ranks fourth on the billionaires list, increased his wealth by more than $46.5 billion thanks to the company’s strong third-quarter earnings report.
Since January 1, Meta’s stock has soared more than 42%, pushing Zuckerberg’s net worth to $175 billion.
Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates ($154 billion) and Steve Ballmer ($147 billion), Google co-founders Larry Page ($140 billion) and Sergey Brin ($133 billion) also top the list. Entered 10. Investor Warren Buffett ($139 billion) also made it into the top 10. and software magnate Larry Ellison ($139 billion).
