All of France suffered the defeat of their team at the World Cup in Qatar, but rejoice! In these days, Bernard Arnault, co-founder and French CEO of the LVMH empire, has become the richest man in the world crediting a fortune of almost 177,000 million dollars. He displaced Elon Musk from that place, whose conglomerate of companies, including Tesla and Space X and Twitter, are shaking over the Nasdaq crash. Musk’s wealth peaked in November 2021 ($320 billion). Today he has “just” 148,000 million dollars leftaccording to the Forbes ranking of billionaires in real time.
France’s painful fall to Argentina has counterbalances in the business world. France is the second European country (after Germany) with the most billionaires. In addition to Arnault (the Mbappé of the French team of the rich) there are 40 other tycoons on the Forbes listwho estimates fortunes based on the value of the company’s stock. There are only 7 Argentinesincluding Marcos Galperin, the “Messi” who created and directs Mercado Libre, and which today owns 3.9 billion dollars.
Arnault is 73 years old and is the founder, director and major shareholder of the largest empire of luxury brands LVHM (acronym for Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessy). Based in Paris, has more than 70 brands of high-end products (Bulgari, Kenzo, Tag Heuer, Dom Pérignon, Möet & Chandon, Hermès and Christian Dior), 163,000 employees and almost 4,600 stores worldwide. In early 2021, LVMH added another valuable asset: the centenary and famous American jeweler Tiffany.
The stock market crash of the Nasdaq and the value of Tesla is the main reason for the devaluation of Musk’s fortune, but not the only one. The tycoon generated investor mistrust by buying Twitter for $44 billion. Its valuation on the stock exchange today is approximately 19,000 million dollars, less than half. Forbes noted that Arnault’s rise in the rankings is due to the stability of LVMH shares, while Musk recorded a “dramatic fall in Tesla stock price“, which was down 56% in 2022.
beyond this, Arnault’s is worthy of the Marseillaise. According to Forbes estimates, in 2013 the French tycoon amassed a personal fortune of 29,000 million dollars and in 2019 he managed to exceed 100,000 million dollars for the first time. Since then, he has been the richest man in France. Behind him and Musk is Indian billionaire Gautam Adami ($116.7 billion), who unseated Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ($108.5 billion) in 4th place. In 5th place is legendary investor Warren Buffett, with $106.5 billion.
The top ten richest in the world is completed by Bill Gates (who led the Forbes ranking for several years), the creator and CEO of Oracle, Larry Ellison, Indian Mukesh Ambani, Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim and Steve Ballmer , another co-founder of Microsoft. Arnault appears in the French group and behind the owner of the L’Oréal beauty empire, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, (US$ 71,400 million), who occupies the 14th step of the ranking; Rodolphe Saadé ($41.4 million), in 27th place; and François Pinault ($33.7 billion), in 33rd place.
So the French they take symbolic revenge for the sporting humiliation of Qatar. Argentine billionaires are far fewer and parent company Galperin is also suffering from the side effects of the Nasdaq. On Monday, January 25, 2021, the Mercado Libre share reached $2,000 and the unicorn was valued at $100,000 million. At that time, the businessman amassed a fortune of $8.1 billion and is ranked 289 in the Forbes ranking. Today it is at seat 728.
The other Argentines listed are the CEO of Techint, Paolo Rocca (3.2 billion dollars), Gregorio Pérez Companc (2.8 billion), Alberto Roemmers (2.3 billion dollars), Alejandro Bulgheroni (1.9 billion), Eduardo Eurnekian (1.8 billion) and the creator of Nordelta and Consultatio, Eduardo Costantini (1.3 billion dollars). According to the annual report prepared by Forbes and released in March this year, the ranking counted 2668 members. Together they amass a collective fortune of $12.7 billion.
The United States is the country with the most billionaires in the world, with 735. Followed by China, with 607 (including Hong Kong and Macao). Further behind India (with 166 members), Germany (134) and Russia (83). France is 41 years old today and can boast, at least in this particular universe, against an Argentina that never stops celebrating the world championship. It is something.
Source: Clarin
