Billionaire Bernard Arnault has overtaken Tesla CEO Elon Musk as the wealthiest person globally. Arnault, serving as the CEO of the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, along with his family, saw their net worth soar to $207.8 billion, marking a $23.6 billion increase on Friday, according to Forbes’ real-time billionaires list. This surpasses Musk’s net worth of $204.5 billion.
Tesla faced a setback in the stock market on January 25, with shares plummeting by 13%, resulting in a substantial reduction of Musk’s net worth by over $18 billion, as reported by Forbes. Conversely, LVMH shares experienced a notable surge of over 13% on the same day, around 11 am, following reports of robust sales.
As of Friday, LVMH’s market capitalization reached $388.8 billion, while Tesla’s market cap stood at $586.14 billion, as per Forbes. The decline in Tesla shares, dropping by 12%, occurred after Musk cautioned about a potential reduction in sales growth, despite implementing price cuts that had already impacted the profit margins of the world’s most valuable automaker.
Musk, on Wednesday, stated that growth would be “notably lower” as Tesla shifted its focus to producing more affordable next-generation electric vehicles at its Texas factory in the latter part of 2025. He acknowledged the challenges of accelerating production for the new model, involving the incorporation of cutting-edge technologies.
Analysts from TD Cowen observed that Tesla’s headlines had taken a negative turn, with fourth-quarter revenue and profit falling below expectations. They noted that any significant effort by Tesla to boost sales from this point forward would likely come at the expense of further declines in operating margin, as the company faces competition from BYD in China and increased competition elsewhere, according to Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.
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