Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Bernard Arnault, Luxury Emperor Who Dethroned Elon Musk As World's Richest Person

Bernard Arnault, Luxury Emperor Who Dethroned Elon Musk As World's Richest Person

With $184 billion on Thursday, Bernard Arnault and his family moved to the top of Forbes' billionaire list, knocking the Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter boss off the top spot.
Bernard Arnault -- who with his family now tops the wealth of Elon Musk -- gradually built LVMH into a global luxury empire by buying up iconic brands, sealing his reputation as a formidable and insatiable businessman.

With $184 billion on Thursday, the 73-year-old Frenchman and his family moved to the top of Forbes' billionaire list, knocking the Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter boss off the top spot.

LVMH -- the world's leading luxury group -- boasts more than 75 brands, acquired over time.

They include some of the most recognisable names in fashion and prestige goods, from Louis Vuitton and Kenzo to Moet Hennessy and Tiffany.

"An essential quality in our family is patience," Arnault acknowledged in a 2012 TV profile of him.

A decade later -- by which time LVMH's annual sales had more than doubled to over 64 billion euros ($68 billion) -- he told France's Radio Classique: "We can continue to progress -- but let's be patient. 

"No rush," he said.

The businessman has also invested in the French media, a move he described during a Senate hearing in January 2022 as "more on the patronage side".

During a hearing in the French Senate earlier this year Arnault said he had intervened to stop LVMH advertising in the Liberation newspaper, after it irked him with a front-page article.

'Invest in something promising'

Arnault was born in the northern French city of Roubaix on March 5, 1949 and joined his father's public works building company at the age of 22.

He had just left the elite Ecole Polytechnique and convinced his father to transform the construction business into real-estate development instead.

In 1981, after socialist Francois Mitterrand was elected president, Arnault left France for the United States.

On his return three years later, he bought the debt-ridden textiles company Boussac, prevailing against several serious competitors with a promise to save jobs.

However, he embarked on a drastic reorganisation of the firm, only retaining some of its businesses, including the fashion house Christian Dior.

By then, Arnault was 35 years old.

"My father was surprised when I went to see him saying: 'We're going to redirect the family group and try to invest in something more promising, Christian Dior'," the businessman recalled recently on Radio Classique.

It would be the foundation stone for his luxury empire.

LVMH was born out of the merger in 1987 of trunk-maker Louis Vuitton and the wines and spirits group Moet Hennessy.

Rivalry between the families owning the two companies aided Arnault's ascendancy and he took control of the group in 1989 after no fewer than 17 legal proceedings.

"He's a tough negotiator but unmatched, a visionary who knows how to surround himself with good people and who in the end always gets his way one way or another," Arnaud Cadart, portfolio manager at financial services firm Flornoy, told AFP.

Arnault's rise, however, has not been without some failures.

Corporate criticisms

He lost Italian fashion and leather goods house Gucci to his French rival Francois Pinault, head of the PPR group, in 1999.

Arnault also tried in vain to take over Hermes, known for its silk scarves and leather handbags, by secretly building up a stake in the firm.

He rarely speaks publicly and does not like the limelight.

When the use of private jets by celebrities was being tracked on social media earlier this year, Arnault sold the LVMH jet.

"The upshot now is that no one else can know where I'm going because I lease planes," he said on Radio Classique.

"It's the French businessman's lot to embody -- sometimes in a totally unjustified way -- the criticisms of the day since the mindset has for a few years now been a bit anti-corporate," he lamented on France 2 in 2016.

That same year he was skewered in a satirical documentary entitled "Merci Patron!" (Thank you Boss!) by filmmaker and now politician Francois Ruffin, who often has Arnault in his crosshairs.

Obama, Putin, Trump, Macron...

Last year, LVMH paid a 10-million-euro fine to settle a case as part of a probe into spying.

Arnault abandoned his bid to secure Belgian nationality in 2013 issuing a mea culpa after it whipped up a storm of controversy which rumbled on for months amid public debate over the tax arrangements of the wealthy.

In 2011, he was received at the White House by president Barack Obama; Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed him to Moscow five years later; former French president Francois Hollande cut the ribbon on his Louis Vuitton Foundation, while Donald Trump did the same for a Vuitton workshop in Texas.

And when the historic Samaritaine department store, owned by LVMH, reopened last year, French President Emmanuel Macron was a guest at the inauguration.

In Japan, China and the Middle East, the luxury mogul has access to top leaders.

Arnault has five children, all of whom work for LVMH, but shows little sign of slowing down -- or handing over the reins just yet.

Every week he makes a point of touring all the group's Paris-based companies.

At its last general meeting, the age limit for his role as LVMH chief executive was extended to 80 years old, ensuring the luxury conglomerate stays in family hands.

Married to a pianist and art lover, Arnault also created the Louis Vuitton Foundation, one of Paris' most prestigious exhibition locations for contemporary art.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×