[imagesource: Reuters / Joshua Roberts / File Photo]

Jeff Bezos is no longer the world’s richest person!

No, wait, he is once more atop that filthy, stinkin’ pile, but there was a moment when he was bumped into second.

Elon Musk briefly reigned back in January, and now we can say the same for Bernard Arnault.

Yesterday morning, US time, the Frenchman’s estimated net worth hit $186,3 billion, reports Forbes, which just pipped Bezos, worth a paltry $186 billion, and Elon, way back in third with $147,3 billion (those amounts have also since changed):

Arnault’s fortune has jumped from $76 billion in March 2020 to $186.3 billion on Monday, a massive rise of over $110 billion in the past 14 months, thanks to a pandemic-defying performance by his luxury group LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy).

Image: Christophe Morin/Bloomberg

LVMH, which also owns household names like Fendi, Christian Dior and Givenchy, rose 0.4% during the first hours of trading on Monday, putting its market cap at $320 billion and pushing Arnault’s personal stake up by more than $600 million…

Image: Quartz

Pushed by the “momentum” of shoppers in China, according to Jefferies analyst Flavio Cereda, LVMH recorded revenue of $17 billion for the first quarter of 2021, up 32% compared to the same period in 2020.

Imagine your net worth increasing by $110 billion, during a time in which billions around the world are struggling to stay afloat whilst a deadly virus sweeps the globe.

Arnault’s brief stay at number one on the rich list is also notable in that for the past two decades, US citizens (that includes Elon) have dominated, with Mexico’s Carlos Slim the only person to disrupt that dominance for any lengthy period of time.

If we look at Forbes’ real-time billionaire tracker, here’s the situation as of 8:30AM here in South Africa:

Bill still hanging in there, but when that divorce goes through, his net worth could take a decent hit.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are just hanging on until payday.

[source:forbes]