London: 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.
