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I was going through the list of world billionaires this morning as an aftermath of the news of Mark Zuckerberg losing a few billions due to the downtime at Facebook (talk about the worst Monday morning trouble in the history of employee Monday morning troubles). While looking at the list, I couldn't help but notice an unfamiliar name in the list of usual suspects (usual suspects being the giants of tech, e-commerce, and investment). This name was sitting pretty with its French suave at number 3 on the list (and apparently he was number one at some point this year. Who is this Bernard Arnault? I asked myself.
This took me on the path of researching about this unpopular name and the results were as astounding as they were interesting. This man is worth 175.1 billion dollars from selling clothes, perfumes, and alcohol. It may sound unsurprising to some because you hear of people who are billionaires even making and selling one of these things but what you have to understand is that none of them have actually been part of the top 3 before, so what makes this man so different. Well, luxury is the answer.
This man owns LVMH - Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (the French are always the ones to have their abbreviations upside down from the full meaning - is it a brand thing?). I think at this point I was not the only one thinking "how in the world does just club booze and designer clothing take you above $50bn net worth?". Except you're doing exceptionally well in clothing and stuff, like Shoe dog's Phil Knight for example; but even he does not come anywhere close to $100bn. So I started digging and what I saw astounded me.
Apparently, this guy is the Volkswagen of the fashion and luxury drink industry but on steroids. I mean these guys (LVMH) own up to 75 different brands in six unique business groups - and boy do you want to hear some of the names. From Bvlgari, Fendi, Tiffany & Co, TAG Heuer to Moet & Chandon, Hennessy, Dom Perignon and essentially the Veuve Clicquot. It's like what it would look like if Jumia was selling companies. I bet these guys are able to categorize better though.
In summary, for someone to be able to fully harness fashion and lifestyle at its best to be standing tall amongst the Riches D'or top three (Did I mention he owns Christian Dior?) it is safe to say that Bernard Arnault is a bad guy, and I think I'm speaking for everyone.