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LVMH owner unseats Elon Musk as world's richest person

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Katell Prigent, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="CEO of French luxury goup LVMH, Bernard Arnault attends a new conference to present the group" s="" annual="" in="" January="" According="" to="" the="" leading="" luxury="" products="" recorded="" billion="" euros="" revenue="" percent="" more="" than="" previous="" year.="" EPA-EFE="" IAN="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/overseas/12/19/bernard.jpg"/><figcaption>CEO of French luxury goup LVMH, Bernard Arnault attends a new conference to present the group&#x27;s annual results, in Paris, France, 29 January 2019. According to reports, the world&#x27;s leading luxury products group, recorded 46.8 billion euros revenue in 2018, 10 percent more than in the previous year.<em> EPA-EFE/IAN LANGSDON</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>PARIS, France - 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.</p><p>With $184 billion on Thursday, the 73-year-old Frenchman and his family moved to the top of Forbes&#x27; billionaire list, knocking the Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter boss off the top spot.</p><p>LVMH -- the world&#x27;s leading luxury group -- boasts more than 75 brands, acquired over time.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/04/13/22/lvmh-sales-soar-despite-continued-pandemic-conflict">LVMH sales soar despite continued pandemic, conflict</a></li></ul><p>They include some of the most recognizable names in fashion and prestige goods, from Louis Vuitton and Kenzo to Moet Hennessy and Tiffany.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/11/25/19/louis-vuitton-group-buys-tiffany-in-162-billion-deal">Louis Vuitton group puts ring on jeweller Tiffany in $16.2-billion union</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/07/20/21/louis-vuitton-takes-majority-stake-virgil-abloh-off-white">LVMH takes majority stake in Virgil Abloh streetwear label Off-White</a></li></ul><p>&quot;An essential quality in our family is patience,&quot; Arnault acknowledged in a 2012 TV profile of him.</p><p>A decade later -- by which time LVMH&#x27;s annual sales had more than doubled to over 64 billion euros ($68 billion) -- he told France&#x27;s Radio Classique: &quot;We can continue to progress -- but let&#x27;s be patient. </p><p>&quot;No rush,&quot; he said.</p><p>The businessman has also invested in the French media, a move he described during a Senate hearing in January 2022 as &quot;more on the patronage side&quot;.</p><p>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.</p><div><strong>&#x27;Invest in something promising&#x27; </strong></div><p>Arnault was born in the northern French city of Roubaix on March 5, 1949 and joined his father&#x27;s public works building company at the age of 22.</p><p>He had just left the elite Ecole Polytechnique and convinced his father to transform the construction business into real-estate development instead.</p><p>In 1981, after socialist Francois Mitterrand was elected president, Arnault left France for the United States.</p><p>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.</p><p>However, he embarked on a drastic reorganisation of the firm, only retaining some of its businesses, including the fashion house Christian Dior.</p><p>By then, Arnault was 35 years old.</p><p>&quot;My father was surprised when I went to see him saying: &#x27;We&#x27;re going to redirect the family group and try to invest in something more promising, Christian Dior&#x27;,&quot; the businessman recalled recently on Radio Classique.</p><p>It would be the foundation stone for his luxury empire.</p><p>LVMH was born out of the merger in 1987 of trunk-maker Louis Vuitton and the wines and spirits group Moet Hennessy.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Shoppers walk out of a Louis Vuitton store at Tokyo" s="" Omotesando="" fashion="" in="" September="" Franck="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/tvpatrol/04/13/lvmh.jpg"/><figcaption>Shoppers walk out of a Louis Vuitton store at Tokyo&#x27;s Omotesando fashion district, in Japan, 10 September 2009. <em>Franck Robichon, EPA-EFE</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Rivalry between the families owning the two companies aided Arnault&#x27;s ascendancy and he took control of the group in 1989 after no fewer than 17 legal proceedings.</p><p>&quot;He&#x27;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,&quot; Arnaud Cadart, portfolio manager at financial services firm Flornoy, told AFP.</p><p>Arnault&#x27;s rise, however, has not been without some failures.</p><div><strong>Corporate criticisms</strong></div><p>He lost Italian fashion and leather goods house Gucci to his French rival Francois Pinault, head of the PPR group, in 1999.</p><p>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.</p><p>He rarely speaks publicly and does not like the limelight.</p><p>When the use of private jets by celebrities was being tracked on social media earlier this year, Arnault sold the LVMH jet.</p><p>&quot;The upshot now is that no one else can know where I&#x27;m going because I lease planes,&quot; he said on Radio Classique.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s the French businessman&#x27;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,&quot; he lamented on France 2 in 2016.</p><p>That same year he was skewered in a satirical documentary entitled &quot;Merci Patron!&quot; (Thank you Boss!) by filmmaker and now politician Francois Ruffin, who often has Arnault in his crosshairs.</p><div><strong>Obama, Putin, Trump, Macron... </strong></div><p>Last year, LVMH paid a 10-million-euro fine to settle a case as part of a probe into spying.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>And when the historic Samaritaine department store, owned by LVMH, reopened last year, French President Emmanuel Macron was a guest at the inauguration.</p><p>In Japan, China and the Middle East, the luxury mogul has access to top leaders.</p><p>Arnault has five children, all of whom work for LVMH, but shows little sign of slowing down -- or handing over the reins just yet.</p><p>Every week he makes a point of touring all the group&#x27;s Paris-based companies.</p><p>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.</p><p>Married to a pianist and art lover, Arnault also created the Louis Vuitton Foundation, one of Paris&#x27; most prestigious exhibition locations for contemporary art.</p><div><strong>kap-kd/jbo/ak/pta/kjm/rox/lcm</strong></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1642550" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

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.

LVMH owner unseats Elon Musk as world's richest person

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LVMH owner unseats Elon Musk as world's richest person

Katell Prigent,

Agence France-Presse

Published Dec 19, 2022 06:56 AM PHT

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Bernard Arnault

luxury

louis vuitton

LVMH

kenzo

moet hennessy

tiffany

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