The past year was excellent for the luxury goods group LVMH: Revenues and profits increased by more than a quarter. The share has climbed by around a third in the past six months and most recently reached its highest level in more than 20 years. Last but not least, Bernard Arnault (74), co-founder and head of the group, also benefited from this. According to that Bloomberg Billionaires Index
his fortune now exceeded the threshold of 200 billion dollars (183 billion euros) for the first time.
Arnault is behind Tesla-Boss Elon Musk (51) and Amazon-Founder jeff bezos (59) the third person ever whose wealth has reached this mark. Specifically, the assets of the multi-billionaire yesterday Tuesday were $ 201.1 billion. In mid-December last year, the Frenchman already had the extroverted Tesla boss, according to the “Forbes” list of the super-rich replaced as the richest people in the world.
A major reason for the “changing of the guard” at the top of the super-rich is the drastic plunge in technology stocks, which includes the Tesla papers
were not spared. According to the Wall Street Journal, the fall in prices reduced Musk’s net worth by around $100 billion last year.
Luxury is booming
Conversely, shares in luxury goods groups such as LVMH
, which brings together 75 luxury brands such as Dior, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and Rimowa under its roof, develop significantly better than technology stocks. Most recently, LVMH shares also benefited from the announcement that the group would buy back its own shares worth 1.5 billion euros.
While the demand for luxury goods fell by around 60 billion euros worldwide to 220 billion euros in 2020 due to the pandemic, the suppliers then recovered rapidly from the slump. As early as 2021, sales of luxury items rose to 290 billion dollars worldwide and last year reached the highest level in ten years at 353 billion euros.
The Arnault family owned 48.2 percent of the shares in LVMH at the end of last year, but held more than half of the voting rights. The market capitalization of the luxury goods giant was around 428 billion euros on Wednesday. Arnault, originally a real estate entrepreneur, had bought out the famous French fashion house Dior from bankruptcy in the 1980s and used it to acquire a stake in LVMH and continuously expand it in the years that followed.