Louis Vuitton boss Bernard Arnault remains richest man in the world with a $233 ... trends now
French businessman and investor Bernard Arnault retained his position as the world's richest man on Forbes' billionaires list this year, increasing his lead on social media and ecommerce behemoths Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg to amass a staggering £233billion fortune.
Overseeing the LVMH luxury fashion empire of 75 brands and cosmetics labels, including Louis Vuitton, Sephora and Tiffany & Co, the 75-year-old from Roubaix, France was worth an estimated $22billion more than he was 12 months ago, according to Forbes' calculations.
Arnault enjoyed record success with the conglomerate into 2024, adding some $22billion to his personal wealth and putting him $38bn above runner-up Elon Musk, whose fortune climbed a more modest $15billion up to $195billion this year.
The Tesla and Space X founder, who acquired Twitter in October 2022, continues to battle for second place with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The latter had an estimated personal wealth of $194billion this year as Forbes recorded the highest number of billionaires worldwide ever.
Mark Zuckerberg filled the fourth spot, coming in behind X owner Musk as the second-richest social media owner - despite Meta's ownership of Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp among others. Zuckerberg nonetheless saw a meteoric rise through 2023, his fortune up some $116billion thanks to Meta stock nearly tripling amid cost-cutting layoffs and ventures into AI and the metaverse.
Larry Ellison, Chief Technology Officer at software company Oracle is the entrepreneur in fifth place this year with an estimated person wealth of $141billion. Again, the result is a marked success for the American businessman who last year was estimated to be worth $107bn.
A record-breaking 2,781 billionaires now lay claim to the title, up from 2,640 last year. Still reeling from post-pandemic complications with hiring, firing and supply chains the number of global billionaires fell the year prior from 2,688.
Today, the super-rich are collectively worth a staggering $14.2trillion in total, $2trillion more than they were worth last year - and nearly half the GDP of the United States.
2023-2024 was an especially big year for American investors, with eight of the ten richest people in the world from the US.
Closing in on the top ten were Spain's Amancio Ortega - of fashion brand Zara - in 13th, Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu and family - of Telecom - and France's Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and family - of L'Oréal.
Michael Platt, co founder and CEO of BlueCrest Capital Management, and James Ratcliffe, founder of chemical company Ineos Group, were the only two Brits to make the top 200 list, placing 104th and 111th with respective fortunes of $18billion and $16.5billion.
The U.S. now boasts a record 813 billionaires worth a combined $5.7billion.
China reports the second highest number of billionaires worldwide, with 473, though they are worth a combined $1.7trillion.
2024 also saw a number of newcomers on the scene, with Taylor Swift reporting a net worth of more than a billion dollars for the first time in her career, after 17 years climbing to the top of pop.
By popularity, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Michael Jordan topped the list of fan favourite billionaires, recording personal fortunes of $5.5billion, $4.8billion and $3.2billion respectively.
1. Bernard Arnault (France)$233billion - LVMH Empire
Bernard Arnault, now 75, became the world's richest man last year after his net worth exceeded $200 billion. His fortunes have only grown since, swelling to a massive $233 billion in the space of 12 months.
Bernard Arnault, 74, became the world's richest man this year after his net worth exceeded $200 billion
Arnault, who began his career with the strategic acquisition of struggling conglomerate Boussac Saint-Freres in 1984, has gone from strength to strength in recent years, benefitting from a huge uptick from $76billion to $150billion between 2020 and 2021 and riding out the turbulent years since with steady growth.
The investor and art collector claimed the top spot in 2022 when shares of LVMH climbed 35 percent and he pulled in revenues of $21.7billion — or €20billion. In January that year, LVMH made a huge luxury fashion business deal after acquiring Tiffany & Co. for $15.8 billion, while Arnault then promoted his son to leadership of the American jeweler.
Arnault lives in a stunning 150-year-old castle in northwest Saint-Emilion in Bordeaux, France, that has belonged to the billionaire's family since 1998, while he also owns stunning home in the ultra-prestigious Les Parcs de Saint-Tropez enclave.
2. Elon Musk (United States)$195billion - Tesla, Space X, X
Elon Musk was unsettled from the top spot of Forbes' annual list last year following his decision to purchase Twitter, now X, for $44billion.
Musk saw a steady recovery of $15bn in 2024
In their analysis, Forbes noted that while Tesla and Space X were still going from strength to strength, X was struggling to attain the same success - and revenues - it had built up under its previous administration.
To date, Musk still owns about 12 per cent of Tesla excluding options. Earlier this year, a Delaware judge voided his 2018 deal to receive options worth an extra nine per cent of the car company.
Forbes chose to discount the options by 50 per cent pending the result of Musk's appeal in their calculations.
While Twitter - now worth an estimated 70 per cent of what it cost Musk in October 2022 - has caused Musk problems, Space X is thriving, quintupling its value in four years, according to Forbes.
Musk's net worth soared from an estimated $24.6billion in 2020 to £151billion in 2021, peaking at $219billion in 2022 before falling to $180billion last year.
The climb of $15billion marks a small but steady recovery for the 52-year-old.
READ MORE: Inside Elon Musk's Twitter revolution
3. Jeff Bezos (United States)$194billion - Amazon
Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon in 2021, 27 years after founding the e-commerce behemoth in his garage in 1994.
Bezos nearly hit the $200bn mark this year after announcing plans to give most of it away
It came two years after divorcing his wife MacKenzie in 2019, handing her a quarter of his then-16 per cent stake in the company.
Since then, Bezos has been pictured kicking back on his $500million superyacht in popular destinations around the world with girlfriend Lauren Sanchez - and donated a fair portion of his wealth to nonprofits in 2023.
Still, the 60-year-old continues to amass a huge personal wealth, jumping from $114bn in 2023 to $194bn this year.
Bezos is said to be one of the investors in Altos Labs, a biotechnology company looking to extend the human lifespan by stopping or even reversing the ageing process.
The company raised $3billion in a funding round in January 2022 and is said to be recruiting a 'large cadre' of top scientists with 'lavish salaries' to push the
