Who Temporarily Dethroned Jeff Bezos as Richest Man In the World This Week? The Amazon founder is in a flip-flop battle with LVMH chief executive Bernard Arnault.
By Emily Rella
It's the battle of the billionaires as the two richest men in the world go back and forth for the number one spot.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was temporarily dethroned as the richest man in the world on Monday when the head of luxury house LVMH Bernard Arnault surpassed him. Arnault's net worth jumped to $186.3 billion on Monday which was slightly higher than Bezos' $186 billion net worth, per reports.
But according to Forbes' real-time billionaire tracker, by midday on Tuesday, Bezos had reclaimed the top spot with a net worth of $189.2 billion, while Arnault was settled at $188 billion even.
Related: 5 Things Jeff Bezos Does Other Than Work
The two men are followed closely behind by Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk, who had an estimated net worth of $151.6 billion in the same time frame.
LVMH, which stands for Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesy, is a powerhouse luxury goods company that includes major brands like Christian Dior, Givenchy, Celine, Bulgari, and of course, Louis Vuitton.
It is currently Europe's most valuable company, with an estimated valuation of over $330 billion as of Tuesday.
Arnault has reportedly spent over $530 million in buying up stock of the LVMH, positioning his family to own just shy of half of the entire company at the end of 2020.
LVMH was up 0.35% as of late Tuesday afternoon with Amazon seeing an increase of 0.43% simultaneously.
Both Amazon and LVMH are back to having a strong foot holding after Q1 following a pandemic that ravaged much of the retail industry and business world.
Amazon surpassed earnings estimates after reporting a revenue of $108.52 billion in Q1, beating an original estimate of $104.47 billion.
LVMH reported a recorded revenue of around $17.2 billion thus far in 2021, up 32% from the same time period last year, per a company report.
"LVMH is well-equipped to build upon the hoped-for recovery in 2021 and regain growth momentum for all its businesses," LVMH said in a statement. "The Group will continue to pursue its strategy focused on the development of its brands, driven by strong innovation and investment as well as by a constant quest for quality in their products and their distribution."
