LVMH owner Bernard Arnault tops Bloomberg Billionaires Index

It pays to be in fashion. At least if you are Bernard Arnault and the owner of the world’s most successful luxury group, LVMH.

Mr Arnault’s net worth soared past the 200 billion dollar mark for the first time to 201.1bn dollars, making him the world's wealthiest person according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

While net worth fluctuates according to many variables, Mr Arnault is among just three persons who have exceeded the 200bn dollar mark, after Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Bloomberg said Mr Arnault’s fortune climbed climbed 39bn dollars this year as the LVMH portfolio of luxury brands continues to see growth and demand.

“LVMH’s stock price is at a record, benefitting from announcing last month it would buy back as much as 1.5bn euros of its own shares,” said Bloomberg.

In January LVMH reported its 2022 full-year revenue of 79.2bn euros and profit from recurring operations of 21.1bn euros, both up 23 percent.