A fashion mogul has gained more wealth this year than Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, or anyone else on the global rich list.
Bernard Arnault, the founder and CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, has become about $14 billion richer already in 2025, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
He leapfrogged Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison on Thursday to take fourth place on Bloomberg’s rich list with an estimated $190 billion fortune, adding $15 billion to his net worth in just one day.
The luxury tycoon has gained more wealth this year than Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who was up nearly $12 billion at Thursday’s market close, and the “Donald of Dubai” Hussain Sajwani, up around $10 billion.
Zuckerberg and Musk are the next-biggest gainers. The Meta and Tesla CEOs have added around $9 billion and $7 billion to their respective fortunes in just over two weeks, respectively.
Arnault’s net worth soared on Thursday as LVMH stock surged 9% to close at its highest price since September. Arnault owns about 48% of the luxury conglomerate, which houses around 75 brands, including Tiffany & Co, Dom Perignon, and Sephora.
The shares jumped on hopes of a rebound in luxury demand after rival Richemont — the owner of brands like Cartier and Chloé — reported record quarterly sales with around 20% growth across Europe, the Americas, Japan, and the Middle East and Africa.
Consumer appetite for pricey products came roaring back after the pandemic as people resumed traveling and shopping again. But the luxury business has struggled more recently as brisk inflation, higher interest rates, and economic fears have dampened demand even among well-heeled buyers.
Arnault, nicknamed the “Wolf in Cashmere,” was ranked as the world’s richest person last March with a $230 billion-plus fortune, but his net worth shrank by over $50 billion by December as LVMH stock tumbled. Despite his latest gains, Arnault is still less than half as wealthy as Musk, worth $439 billion.
Even accounting for Arnault’s wealth decline, the world’s 10 richest people added more than $500 billion to their combined fortunes in 2024, boosting their total worth to over $2 trillion.
The group benefited from the buzz around artificial intelligence, the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts, an improved US economic outlook, and hopes that Donald Trump’s planned tax cuts and deregulation as president will boost corporate profits.
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