Fortune of world's richest person Bernard Arnault crosses $200 bn for first time

London, April 5 (IANS) The fortune of Bernard Arnault, the world's richest person, has topped $200 billion for the first time as shares in his French LVMH luxury goods empire hit a record high, a media outlet reported.

The 74-year-old has become only the third person in history to amass an estimated fortune above the $200 billion. Tesla's Elon Musk and Amazon's Jeff Bezos have previously hit the milestone before their fortunes dropped back as technology companies share prices fell, The Guardian reported.

Arnault's fortune increased by $2.4 billion on Tuesday to hit $201 billion, according to the daily-updated Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His wealth has increased by $39 billion so far this year as shares in LVMH have risen 30 per cent, thanks to soaring demand for luxury goods among the world's wealthy.

The French billionaire is now $25 billion richer than Musk, whose fortune has been knocked by his $44 billion purchase of Twitter and a 50 per cent fall in the value of the electric car company Tesla over the past year. Musk is Tesla's co-founder, chief executive and 13 per cent shareholder.

Bezos, who was the first person to hit the $200 billion milestone in August 2020, is currently the world's third-richest person, with a $128 billion fortune, The Guardian reported.

Arnault is the chairman and chief executive of LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Moet & Chandon champagne. Its shares have shot up by more than 150% in the past three years, hitting a new high of €853 on Wednesday morning.

LVMH last year achieved record sales of €79.2bn and has begun a €1.5bn share buyback programme, which has helped further lift the share price.

Arnault, who co-founded the luxury goods group 35 years ago and is its majority shareholder, has recently appointed his children to key roles within the business, the media outlet reported.

In January his eldest child, Delphine, was named the head of Christian Dior, the second-biggest brand in the empire. Her brother Antoine was promoted to run the holding company that controls LVMH and the Arnault family fortune.

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