Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of e-commerce giant Amazon, has again yielded to his longstanding rival – in terms of the overall fortune – Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of luxury goods titan LVMH, who gained $1.9 billion in net worth on Friday as the diverse-specialised conglomerate climbed slightly, by 0.7%, and thereby secured him the top spot on Forbes' list.
Both indeed have eye-watering retail empires, but Bezos has arguably been less successful (just slightly) of late, with his net worth going down by $760 million to $115.6 billion, as Amazon shares dipped 0.7% the other day.
Arnault’s lucrative businesses, with Hennessey, Louis Vuitton and Sephora, etc. being just a part of them, are currently worth $117 billion, markedly up from $102 billion when he last appeared on the cover of Forbes less than four months ago, also overtaking Bezos.
“If you compare us to Microsoft, [we are] small”, Arnault shared with Forbes, arguing that “it’s just the beginning”.
Bill Gates, who is known to have donated $35.8 billion to date to charity, retains the third spot on the list of the wealthiest people, with Arnault and Bezos constantly changing places in the first two spots as their net worth is less than $2 billion apart.