Bernard Arnault, owner of the LVMH corporation (Facebook photo)
It’s been a tough year for the world’s rich. As the latest Forbes list of the world’s 25 richest people shows, their collective wealth fell by $200 billion to $2.1 trillion, largely due to sharp falls in tech giants like Amazon and Tesla.
What the Forbes list of billionaires also reveals is an intriguing shift over the past year in the way they’ve made their money. Of the 25, fashion and retail billionaires rose to seven, while those who made their fortunes in technology were eight. The Americans still lead the way, taking 17 of the top 25 spots. Next in line are the French and the Indians.
The richest person in the world is Bernard Arnault, who heads the LVMH fashion empire, and his fortune is over 200 billion dollars. The other French billionaire at the top is the richest woman in the world, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, who inherited the L’Oreal empire. His fortune is about 80 billion dollars.
Together, these two French giants are worth $694 billion and dominate the Paris Stock Exchange. They are the main reason why the French stock market outperforms the UK market.
In 13th place in the world is Amancio Ortega, founder of Inditex, the Spanish fashion giant that owns Zara and Massimo Dotti brands, among others. His fortune is currently worth about 62 billion dollars.
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Building a huge empire of billions is not an easy thing, but an even more difficult thing is choosing the successor who will lead the business forward. All eyes are on how these three European giants deal with the succession plan. As the hit TV series “The Heirs” shows, the squabbling between children competing for dominance is not only ugly, it’s also bad for business.
So far, both Inditex and LVMH appear to be taking steps to avoid such infighting. The 87-year-old Ortega decided to pass the presidency to his daughter Marta Ortega last year.
Arno, 74, has also begun the process of transferring power. He recently reorganized the holding company Agache, gave all five of his children equal shares and appointed them to key positions in the company. His eldest, Delphine, was given the management of the fashion brand Dior, while his son, Antoine, manages Agache and the family fortune.
As for Bettencourt-Myers, 69, she herself is a writer by trade and a social activist. In the meantime, even during her tenure, the business is beating as it should. The question is whether her children, who grew up as Jews, received a sense of business from her, even though they have not been involved in business so far, and whether in the future Degel will be called to manage the Turkish empire.
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