China News Network, March 3 (Zhongxin Financial Reporter Zuo Yukun) The position at the top of the global wealth pyramid has changed owners.

On March 3, Hurun Research Institute released the "23 Hurun Global Rich List", and Bernard Arnault of LVMH, the "king of luxury", topped the top of the world's richest people for the first time.

The 74-year-old with an elegant and easy-going appearance, whose personal wealth exceeded one trillion yuan, also surpassed Elon Musk to become the fifth richest man in the world in ten years. Zhong is the richest man in China and 15th in the world.

People pass in front of LV stores. Photo by Zhang Yun, reporter of China News Agency

The "Godfather of Luxury" debuted as the world's richest man

The list shows that Bernard Arnott, the richest man in the new world, rose two places, and his wealth increased by 3300 billion yuan to 1.35 trillion yuan. Elon Musk dropped one place to second, with a fortune of 1 trillion yuan, 3200 billion yuan less than last year.

"Bernard Arnott became the fifth richest man in the world in a decade, almost all Bill Gates in the previous decade, and this decade has changed a lot, and the other four richest people in the world are Slim, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk of Mexican telecommunications." Hu Run, chairman and chief research officer of Hurun Report, said.

Arnott, known as "a wolf in a cashmere shirt", began his career with nothing to do with the luxury industry. He was born in a small famous architectural family in France, and then "parachuted" from the luxury circle in the real estate industry, like building a building, tearing down, rebuilding, and expanding one brand after another, and was also known as the "Napoleon of luxury".

Some people like to collect luxury goods, but Arnault likes to collect luxury companies. Through a dazzling array of mergers and acquisitions, LV (Louis Vuitton), Dior (Dior), Fendi (Fendi), Givenchy (Givenchy), BVLGARI (Bulgari)... LVMH's commercial territory can be said to occupy half of the luxury market, jointly holding up the castle of wealth of the Arnault family.

Arnault also led LVMH to become one of Europe's most valuable companies, with its share price rising more than 150 percent on the back of record $860 billion in profits and $30 billion in sales.

There are already signs of soaring wealth at the helm of luxury companies. Third on this year's list is also from the luxury industry, with Hermes' Bertrand Piets family growing their fortune by 2100 billion yuan to rank third with 9000 billion yuan, and Hermès reaching a record profit of $36.<> billion last year.

"Despite the uncertainty of the cost-of-living crisis, the heads of LV, Hermès, Gucci, Chanel, Cartier, Patek Philippe and Prada experienced a record year, with sales soaring in Europe, the US and Japan, and large numbers of US consumers taking advantage of the US dollar exchange rate to shop in the UK and Europe." Hurun said.

Elon Musk, 52, fell one place to second, with a fortune of 1 trillion yuan, 3200 billion yuan less than last year, mainly because of Tesla's market value. That year, Musk sold 1500 billion yuan worth of Tesla shares to help him buy Twitter last October. Tesla's market capitalization is up 10% this year after shrinking by $7000 billion last year.

Top 2023 of the <> Hurun Global Rich List.

There are 969 billion-dollar entrepreneurs in China

This year, a total of 969 Chinese entrepreneurs have exceeded one billion US dollars in wealth and entered the list of the world's richest people. Among them, the 69-year-old Zhong's wealth fell 4% to 4650 billion yuan, ranking China's richest man and ranking 15th in the world, unchanged from last year.

In 2022, Nongfu Spring, a Hong Kong listed company under Zhong Xiaoxi, has steadily increased its performance, with a current market value of 4500 billion yuan. The performance of Wantai Biotech, another A-share listed company, has improved significantly compared with the previous year, and the profit in the first three quarters of 2022 has reached twice that of the whole year of 2021, and the current market value exceeds 1100 billion yuan.

Among the top three, 52-year-old Ma Huateng's fortune fell 25% to 2600 billion yuan, ranking second in China and 31st in the world, down three places from last year. Zhang Yiming, 3, saw his fortune fall 40 percent to 31 billion yuan, ranking third in China and 2500th in the world, down 34 places from last year.

Among the other Chinese entrepreneurs on the list, Huang Zheng of Pinduoduo is the entrepreneur with the largest increase in wealth in China, with an increase of 800 billion yuan; The biggest increase was the brothers Zhang Hongchao and Zhang Hongfu, 45 and 38, who both increased their wealth by 320% to 280 billion yuan, rising to the top 200 in China.

China's youngest self-made entrepreneurs, Han Yulong and Lu Jianxia, 38 and 30, have built Manner Coffee into a multibillion-dollar company and a billion-dollar entrepreneur themselves.

What industry is the most profitable in 2022? In terms of the number of billion-dollar entrepreneurs on the global list, the consumer goods and financial services industry leads, with healthcare surpassing retail in third place, and food and beverage surpassing real estate in fifth place; Consumer goods, retail and financial services lead the way in terms of total wealth, accounting for more than a quarter of the total wealth of billion-dollar entrepreneurs. (End)