We’re used to seeing tech bosses on Forbes’ World’s Richest People list, which has been tiring our jaws for years. For years Bill Gates and the top of the list he dominated for the last few years belonged to Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon. However, this time, there is a name from France, not the USA, at the top of the list: Textile manufacturer Bernard Arnault.
According to Oxfam’s data, there are more than 2150 billionaires in the world. The total amount of wealth these people have is equal to the total amount of wealth of 4.6 billion people who make up 60% of the world’s population. While the ratio of billionaires to the world population puts income inequality, the sectors that enable them to become billionaires are constantly changing.
In the 2010s, there is a remarkable name in the Forbes World’s Richest People list, which is dominated by US technology bosses such as Bill Gates, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk: Louis Vuitton, the elite clothing brand of millionaires, born and raised in France. Owner Bernard Arnault. So how did Bernard Arnault manage to be on this list, which is monopolized by the US and technology bosses?
Arnault is actually one of the names we can call the “old soil” in the business world:
Born on March 5, 1949, to Jean Leon Arnault, who ran a local construction company in France, Bernard had a hard-working student life. He graduated from a local high school with a degree and in 1971, he graduated from Ecole Polythenique, one of the most prestigious public universities in France. as an engineer He graduated. Soon after, he started working in his father’s company.
He did not see the future of the construction industry as bright, his family was expelled from France to the USA, where he continued his real estate business, everything changed when he returned to France:
Today, the construction sector, which is seen as one of the most profitable sectors in Turkey, was for Bernard in the 70s. “sustainable” opportunities was not providing. Yes, maybe his family has been living in this business for years, but it was not a profitable enough and open to new visions sector. Everything changed as soon as he took control as president of the company in 1979.
The socialist party that seized power in France forced the family to go to the USA. Bernard Arnault continued his real estate business in the USA. When he returned to France in 1983, he became the owner of the country’s most established textile company. Boussac saw it sink and wanted to exploit this gap, he convinced an investment company to buy Boussac.
The path of Arnold, who now owns the Christian Dior and Bon Marche brands, crosses with the company called ‘LVMH’, which he will later become one of the largest holdings in the world:
The Christian Dior e Bon Marche brands were originally owned by Arnold’s acquired Boussac, but were only known in France. As soon as Arnold bought the company, he sold almost all of his shares. back only Christian Dior And Le Bon Marche brands remained. The real story started after that.
Arnold, who for several years made Boussac profitable, was invited to invest in another French company, LVMH, because of this success. Arnold, which is a joint stock with Guinness, one of today’s best-known alcohol brands, In 1989 he managed to own 43.5% of LVMH’s shares.. This made him an influential figure in the company.
He laid off an average of six employees at LVMH and replaced them with better ones. He continued to acquire new companies:
Louis Vuitton, which has prestigious brands in almost every luxury clothing and accessory category, especially in textiles, continued to grow under Bernard Arnault’s management. Over the years Gevency, Dior, Celine, Bvlgari, Fendi LVMH, which brought brands such as LVMH to the whole world, continued to be appreciated rapidly in the 90s and 2000s.
In the 2010s, these brands were never short of millionaires and celebrities in front of the camera. LVMH brands appeared on the red carpets of the Academy Awards and on the covers of the world’s biggest magazines. Millions of people dream of owning products from these brands, Bernard Arnault and LVMH has nearly 160 thousand employees.continued to masterfully market this dream.
Year 2021: Bernard Arnault, 72, topped the list of rich people of his age:
With the exception of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffet, former landlord Bernard Arnault was now at the top of the list of the world’s richest people, almost all under the age of 50, taken over by US tech bosses. With its magnificent brands, LVMH’s market value reached 321 billion euros, and when the shares of LVMH skyrocketed, the share of himself and his family $187 billion reached.
Bernard Arnault, a regular at the summit in recent years, with only 1 billion difference between him and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has now seen the summit for a short time, breaking the monopoly of capital technology companies with his brands that most of the world cannot reach and that the few rich people who reach, buy reputation.