Billionaire Bernard Arnault surpasses Elon Musk to become richest man in the world

SAN FRANCISCO: Billionaire Bernard Arnault has surpassed Tesla CEO Elon Musk to become the richest man in the world. CEO of global luxury goods company LVMH, Arnault and his family’s net worth grew to $207.8 billion after an increase of  $23.6 billion on Friday, exceeding Musk’s $204.5 billion mark, as per Forbes real-time billionaires list.

This comes after Tesla suffered a blow in the stock market on Thursday (Jan 25), plummeting to 13 per cent which made Musk lose more than $18 billion in net worth, according to a Forbes report.

On the other hand, LVMH shares rose by over 13 per cent on Friday around 11 am immediately after the news of strong sales surfaced.

LVMH’s market cap reached $388.8 billion on Friday, compared to Tesla’s $586.14 billion market cap, as per Forbes.

Tesla shares on Thursday dropped by over 12 per cent after Musk cautioned that the sales growth would go down despite slashing the prices that have already caused a dent in the margins of the world’s most valuable automaker.

Musk on Wednesday said that growth would be “notably lower” as Tesla shifts its focus on making cheaper next-generation electric vehicles at its Texas factory in the second half of 2025.

However, he said that speeding up the production of the new model would pose challenges as it would involve the latest technologies.

“The Tesla headlines have essentially gone from bad to worse,” said TD Cowen analysts, noting that the fourth-quarter revenue and profit were also below expectations.

“The problem for Tesla is any significant attempt to boost sales from here on will probably need to be achieved at the cost of further falls in operating margin, due to having to compete with BYD in China, as well as increased competition elsewhere,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. (Agencies)

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