Behind Bernard Arnault, The World's Richest Man | TheRichest.com
Bernard Arnault is over 72 years of age and is single-handedly worth billions. While most billionaires in the world are owners of giant tech firms, Arnault has defied the conventions. As such, a question that has become increasingly pertinent is how Arnault, a non-tech guy, became one of the richest men in the world.
Bernard Arnault is overly famous for his insane skills as an investor, and that has been the source of most of his current wealth. Likewise, most of his fame has been the consequence of being associated with Louis Vuitton. Although Arnault is still behind Jeff Bezos in terms of wealth obtained, he has been successful in surpassing the net worths of Bill Gates and Elon Musk despite being from a non-tech background.
Here is how Bernard Arnault touched the pinnacle of the 'richest' person in the world.
Bernard Arnault was born Bernard Jean Etienne Arnault in 1949 in Roubaix, France. Jean Léon Arnault was a manufacturer and a graduate of the prestigious École Centrale Paris. Later, he inherited the civil engineering company called Ferret-Savinel from his father-in-law. Bernard's mother had a soft spot for the brand Dior and was the daughter of Étienne Savinel, the owner of the Savinel company before his son-in-law.
Thus, it can be said that his family background and their interests moderately influenced Bernard in luxury brands. He completed his schooling from Lycée Maxence Van Der Meersch in Roubaix, and the Lycée Faidherbe in Lille. He finished his graduation in 1971 from the best engineering institution in France at that point - École Polytechnique.
Arnault got to work soon after finishing his graduation, and he decided that his father's company would be the ideal place to start. Within three years, he was involved in making managerial and infrastructural decisions for Ferret Savinel. One of the first suggestions that he gave his father was to shift the focus of the business to real estate and rename the company 'Ferinel'.
Arnault became the company president in 1971 and held the post till 1987, marking the first success arc in his professional life. After which, Arnault became a part of the textile industry by taking over the Boussac Saint-Frères business conglomerate, which also included Dior. Arnault got notified when the French government was looking for someone to take over the luxury goods company called Financière Agache, and with the support of Antoine Bernheim, he completed his move.
It was like a stepping stone to acquiring the Boussac Saint-Frères business, and he eventually did so by winning a bidding war. Arnault became the employer of Dior and Le Bon Marché, the Conforama retail shop, and Peaudouce, the diaper manufacturing company. Bernard then became famous by his nickname 'The Terminator', laid off about 9000 workers after becoming CEO, as also stated by Forbes. Holding on to only the Le Bon Marché departmental store and the Christian Dior brand, Arnault decided to sell the rest of his business assets. As a business investor and head, Arnault's skills began to show when Financière Agache began to thrive as a business again in France.
The success of Bernard Arnault has always been associated with the creation of LVMH. This glorious journey began in 1988 when Arnault spent a grand $1.5 billion to make a holding company along with the Irish dry stout Guinness as, at that point, it held about 24 percent of LVMH's shares. Eventually, he became the largest shareholder of LVMH by spending a wholesome $600 million to buy about 16.7 percent more of the business conglomerate.
Bernard's control over the LVMH conglomerate expanded as he invested another $500 million the following year to buy more shares. He has about 43.5 percent of the shares and about 35 percent of the voting rights. His strongest rival in business was Henry Racamier, who was also the President of the Louis Vuitton group. By 1989, Arnault was powerful enough to strip Racamier of his position in the board of directors of the conglomerate.
The next chapter in his business career was unanimously chosen as the chairman of the executive management board of LVMH. The rest is history, and Arnault turned his business into one of the biggest in just a matter of few years and became one of the richest men himself. The extraordinary growth of LVM under Bernard's reign includes the rise of the profit margin by a factor of 5 and the rise of market value by about 15 times.
By 2020, the conglomerate owned about 75 luxury brands. Arnault's business strategies were letting the individual firms have enough freedom and space to boom instead of being clubbed with the LVMH group. This method of decentralization worked quite well for him. The secret behind Arnault's recipe for success has been his eye for detail, readiness to grab an opportunity at the right moment, and his love for luxury.
LVMH was such a massive achievement in Arnault's life that it oftentimes overshadows his other successes. For instance, he invested in Web companies like Boo.com, Libertysurf, and Zebank through the holding company called Europatweb. He also invested in the online streaming service Netflix in 1999 through another of his holding firms called Groupe Arnault.
By 2007 Arnault, in collaboration with the Californian company Colony Capital, was reported to own about 10.69% of France's largest retailer Carrefour. Carrefour is also the second-largest food distributor globally, and this was a big win for the billionaire investor. Bernard has been a connoisseur of not just art but also of yachts. He is known to have spent millions of dollars to purchase the exquisite Princess Yachts.
In 2021, the net worth of the French billionaire is estimated to be a jaw-dropping $186 billion. In 2019, he became the second richest person in the world after Bill Gates and also touched the peak by becoming the richest person for a brief span. He has attained massive success through the years with exceptional business expansion skills.
Source: The Strive, Celebrity Net Worth, Forbes, Success Story
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