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Bill Gates has been unseated as the second richest man in
the world, losing the position to Bernard Arnault, the chairman and CEO of
LVMH.
In the latest ranking by Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index,
Arnault is in second place with Jeff Bezos still retaining first place.
Arnault and his family are the majority owners of Christian
Dior and LVMH, parent of such brands as Louis Vuitton, Celine, Fendi, Moët,
Hennessy, Dom PĂ©rignon, and others.
As LVMH’s share price has soared in 2019, so has Arnault’s
worth. It now stands at about $107.6 billion, more than $200 million ahead of
Gates, Bloomberg estimates.
The report also states that Gates would had been ranked the
richest person, even ahead of Bezos if not for his philanthropic giveaways
which gave Arnault more room to climb.
The French entrepreneur entered the luxury industry in 1984,
when he bought Boussac, a textile empire in the midst of bankruptcy that owned
Dior.
The famed label by then had deteriorated by licensing its
name out to companies producing sub-par products.
Arnault set about reviving it, turning it into a vertically
integrated company that did its own production, distribution, and marketing.
He went on to buy up other brands, such as CĂ©line, and in
1988 engineered the deal that made him the majority shareholder of LVMH.
Forbes currently ranks Dior as the world’s largest fashion
brand based on sales, profits, assets, and market value.
Meanwhile, LVMH on the whole keeps attracting customers
around the world, with China being the latest highly profitable frontier.
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