French fashion tycoon Bernard Arnault overtakes Jeff Bezos to become the richest man in the world

Photo: Shutterstock via jingdaily

French fashion tycoon, Bernard Arnault on Monday became the world’s richest man after his net worth climbed to $186.3billion.

The 72-year-old CEO of Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) saw his luxury goods firm stock increase by 0.4 per cent during the first hours of trading on Monday, May 24.

The rise pushed Arnault’s personal stake up by more than $600million and placed LVMH’s market cap at $320billion, according to Forbes.

Arnault’s overall net worth jumped to $186.3billion, edging past Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who is worth $186billion, by ‘only’ $300million in the world’s rich list.

It comes just days after Arnault pushed Elon Musk, worth $147.3billion, out of his spot as the world’s second-richest man after Tesla’s share price sank.

Musk dropped out of his spot as the world’s second-richest man after his fortune sank by $3.16billion last week, to $160.6billion.

Arnault, 72, has seen his fortune jump more than $110million in the past 14 months thanks to his French luxury goods firm LVMH, which owns the likes of Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Christian Dior, and Givenchy in its portfolio of 70+ luxury brands.

Update by Forbes: Since this story was published, Jeff Bezos has returned to number one on the Forbes real-time billionaire tracker.