Bernard Arnault Was the Richest Man in the World Until He Started Losing Money. He’s Already Lost Over $52 Billion

In an anecdote about French luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault published by The Telegraph in September last year, his friend and advisor Jean-Noël Tassez told him the following as they drove home from a dinner in Saint-Tropez: “Bernard, you look a little sad.” The billionaire replied, “As long as I’m not the richest man in the world, I won’t really be happy.” For at least six months, Arnault was happy. Now, the dream of becoming the wealthiest man in the world has turned into a nightmare.

The LVMH CEO started 2024 as the richest person on the planet, surpassing Tesla CEO Elon Musk. However, the second half of the year hasn’t gone so well for Arnault. In recent months, the price of shares of his companies haven’t stopped decreasing, causing him to lose about $52 billion.

2024: Arnault’s Annus Horribilis

According to the Forbes billionaires list, at the end of March 2024, the man at the helm of brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Givenchy, Tiffany & Co., and Moët & Chandon had assets valued at roughly $239 billion. That fortune placed him ahead of Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.

Today, the French billionaire’s reality is quite different. He’s the only one in the 100 billion club who can end the year with a loss of wealth compared to January 2024. The rest of the members of this select group have seen gains of between $14 and $63 billion so far this year.

Arnault’s fortune is about $187 billion. However, he’s lost $52 billion in the last seven months. Before this summer, uncertain economic forecasts and the decline in luxury goods sales caused his group’s shares to begin a slow price decline.

According to Fortune, shares of LVMH have fallen about 16% in recent months, recovering slightly in recent weeks (they’ve fallen 19.20% in the last six months). Arnault remains the group’s main shareholder with a 48% stake. The fate of his fortune and his luxury fashion empire go hand in hand.

Luxury Is on a Downward Trend

The group’s poor financial performance began with a modest decline in its second-quarter results. In that quarter, LVMH reduced its profits by 1% compared to last year. However, its wine and spirits division had a bad year, reporting losses estimated at 12%.

“Maybe the current global situation, be it geopolitical or macroeconomic, does not lead people to cheer up and to open bottles of champagne, I don’t really know. The fact of the matter is that our volumes are down double-digit,” LVMH’s chief financial officer Jean-Jacques Guiony said during the company’s results presentation at the end of July.

LVMH isn’t the only company in the sector that has reported poor results. According to a recent report by Bank of America, 2024 will feature a downward trend in the luxury sector. The sad news for Arnault is that, according to the financial institution, the trend will continue well into 2025. As a result, the French tycoon’s losses could increase in the last quarter of the year.

Despite the deficient performance of his main asset, Arnault hasn’t been discouraged and has continued to diversify his investments. According to Bloomberg, he recently purchased the Hotel Bauer in Venice from the Signa Group for about $300 million. Meanwhile, Fortune reports that the billionaire recently bought the French media outlet Paris Match for $130 million.

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