When it comes to wealth, the concept of big or small is a very subjective one. Basically, you can be rich for someone or poor for someone else. This is the only way to explain the situation in which a man loses 11 billion dollars, but still sees his life.
Bernard Arnault lost no less than 11.2 billion dollars a few days ago, in less than 24 hours. If the name is unfamiliar to you, it is worth considering that he is the founder of the LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesy) group and has in his portfolio some of the most luxurious brands on the world map, in addition to those mentioned in the title. He is the richest man in the world, after 2023 began with an explosion of share prices in large European luxury companies.
He lost 11 billion dollars, but he is still the richest man in the world
While he retains his title as the world’s richest man, he will likely run out of cash tied up in LVMH’s publicly traded shares. The event took place in the middle of this week, when speculation about the slowdown in the US economy generated a wave of concern over demand for the group’s luxury products.
It didn’t take long for that concern to be felt on the Paris stock exchange, with the Bernard Arnault-led group down 5%, its biggest decline in 12 months. What LVMH suffered, however, represents only one part of the entire European luxury sector, which devalued by approximately 30 billion dollars in a very short time. All in all, shares of the LVMH group, even after this week’s crash, are up more than 23% since the start of the year.
However, returning to the story of Bernard Arnault, it is worth considering that, according to Bloomberg, his fortune is currently valued at $191.6 billion, and since the beginning of the year, it has been supplemented by $29.5 billion. He still ranks first in the world as the richest, but his lead over Elon Musk has narrowed to just $11.4 billion.
