Luxury Goods Tycoon Bernard Arnault Now World’s No. 2 Richest

Luxury conglomerate LVMH’s stock has been red hot since the beginning of October, propelling its CEO, Bernard Arnault, into the No. 2 spot on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people. His $107 billion fortune edges out that of Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, whose net worth is $106.9 billion. Arnault is only $5.2 billion behind Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, the richest person on earth, worth $112.3 billion as of 5:20 p.m. ET.

Arnault, Europe’s richest person, was briefly number two behind Bezos in July before slipping back to the world’s third richest. Arnault, Bezos and Gates are the world’s only centibillionaires, according to Forbes’ real time billionaire rankings.  Arnault’s net worth reached $100 billion in June.

Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault is a French billionaire business magnate, and art collector. Arnault is the chairman and chief executive of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE, LVMH, the world's largest luxury-goods company. He is the richest person in Europe and the second-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $102 billion, as of October 2019. In April 2018, he became the richest person in fashion, topping Zara's Amancio Ortega.

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