Down $65 billion: LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault has dropped out of the top 10 richest people in the world

Bernard Arnault, founder of the French luxury conglomerate LVMH, has dropped out of Bloomberg’s list of the world’s 10 richest people. The list now consists exclusively of Americans, most of whom are from the technology sector.

On September 10, the net worth of 77-year-old French businessman Bernard Arnault fell to $143 billion. Since the beginning of the year, he has lost $65 billion—the sharpest decline among the world’s 500 richest people, according to Bloomberg. As a result, the founder of LVMH lost his 10th-place ranking to Warren Buffett, chairman of the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway.

The decline in the billionaire’s personal wealth is directly linked to the drop in his business’s market capitalization. This year, the Arnault family’s stake in LVMH exceeded 50% as they bought up shares that had fallen in price. The holding company’s shares are currently trading at a six-year low: since the beginning of 2026, its market value has fallen by approximately 36%. At the opening of the trading session on September 11, the stock price fell by 1.2%.

The war in the Middle East has led to a decline in LVMH’s sales in Dubai and other popular luxury shopping destinations, according to Bloomberg. This has affected all segments of the conglomerate’s business—from fashion houses Dior and Louis Vuitton to jewelry company Tiffany and premium spirits producers Dom Pérignon and Hennessy. At the same time, problems in China have worsened: in this key Asian market, LVMH’s revenue slumped amid a legal dispute with a local tea chain over the copying of the French holding company’s trademarked design.

Bernard Arnault has consistently ranked among the world’s 10 richest people since March 2017, and since December 2022, he has even briefly risen to the top spot on several occasions. He became the first billionaire from outside North America and the only representative of the consumer sector to top this ranking, according to Bloomberg.

However, the peak of his wealth coincided with a completely different era for the luxury market, the agency reports. In those years, Chinese buyers drove explosive sales growth, and luxury giants reaped windfall profits on the back of pent-up demand that emerged after restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted.

Most analysts view LVMH’s outlook positively. According to Marketscreener, 17 of the 26 analysts who cover the company’s stock recommend buying it, while nine recommend holding it. There are no sell recommendations at all.

The average target price is €564. This implies a 38% upside potential relative to the last closing price.

Elon Musk, founder of electric car maker Tesla and aerospace company SpaceX, tops the Bloomberg ranking by a wide margin—his net worth has reached $918.8 billion. He is followed by other leaders in the U.S. technology sector: Jeff Bezos, founder of the online retailer Amazon; Larry Page and Sergey Brin, co-founders of Google; and Michael Dell, CEO of Dell.

For the first time since the Billionaires Index was launched in 2012, the top 10 richest people in the world are all from the United States, Bloomberg notes.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor