According to a report released by Bloomberg, Bill Gates, the co founder of Microsoft, was replaced as the world’s second richest person by Bernard Arnault, the Chairman of LVMH. Bill Gates was ranked as the 2nd richest person in Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index for the last 7 years. However, he was replaced by Arnault after the French businessman added $ 39 billion in 2019 to his wealth, pushing his net worth to $ 108 billion.
Arnault, aged 70, joined world’s most exclusive wealth club after Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, when his fortune surpassed the $ 100 billion mark for the first time in June 2019. As the chairman and CEO of the luxury goods maker LVMH, most of Arnault’s wealth comes from his holdings in Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior. He holds a 97 % stake in Christian Dior. Apart from Louis Vuitton, Bernard also oversees 70 other luxury good companies like Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Sephora and Fendi, to name a few.
Arnault and his family are among the list of luxury titans who pledged more than $ 650 million for the reconstruction of the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was destroyed by a massive fire in April 2019.
Bill Gates, with a net worth of $ 107 billion, lost the title of being the world’s second richest man because of his philanthropic work. Gates donated over $ 35 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, founded in 2000 by him and his wife Melinda Gates. The primary focus of the Foundation is to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty. Amazon’s Bezos’ net worth was up slightly this year to $ 125 billion, despite his divorce settlement with his former wife MacKenzie Bezos, which saw MacKenzie keep 4% stake in his multinational technology company. This made MacKenzie Bezos the 4th richest woman in the world.
Declared the richest man in Europe, Bernard Arnault has been climbing the ladder to success continuously. His $ 39 billion addition to his wealth in 2019 alone, according to Bloomberg, is the biggest individual gain among the 500 people it ranks.