Bernard Arnault becomes world’s richest man. See who is he

For a CEO in the fashion sector, Arnault's career path was very unusual. He started off working for his family's civil engineering firm in the industrial north of France as an engineer and property developer.

By 1984, he had aspirations that went far beyond building, and he started to take over enterprises that he could expand to a global scale through a series of audacious and cunning maneuvers.

He acquired Boussac, a well-known French conglomerate, in order to acquire The House of Dior, a business it housed, a prize he had long wanted. He used the proceeds from the sales of the majority of the other properties to purchase Mot Hennessy and Louis Vuitton, two renowned French brands that merged to form LVMH in 1987.

Once inside LVMH, he took advantage of the ongoing rivalry between the two CEOs to gain control before ousting them both.

He became the Chair, CEO, and largest shareholder of LVMH after winning "one of the bloodiest battles in French fashion," a position he retains as of April 2022.

He united the defunct Boussac assets with the LVMH brands and dozens of purchased businesses during the ensuing three decades to establish the most potent luxury conglomerate in the world, with revenues of €44.6 billion ($51 billion) by 2020.

Arnault ranked third in the world's wealthiest people as of April 21, 2022, with a net worth of $146 billion (after Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos)

Arnault wed Anne Dewavrin in 1973; the couple had two kids before divorcing in 1990. In 1991, Arnault wed Hélène Mercier, a concert pianist from Canada. He has five children: two with his first wife and three with his current one.

“I see myself as an ambassador of French heritage and French culture. What we create is emblematic. It's linked to Versailles, to Marie Antoinette.”