French billionaire Bernard Arnault, who is 70 years old, has overtaken the former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates as the second richest person in the world.
Mr Arnault who is the CEO of luxury goods maker LVMH (LVMHF), overtook Bill Gates on Tuesday on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Surprisingly, Bill Gates had never gone beyond position two ever since the index was created seven years ago, until yesterday when Arnault overtook him at position two.
Arnault net worth is estimated at around $108 billion. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he has added $39 billion to his wealth in the last one year.
Arnault is above Microsoft (MSFT) founder by only $1 billion. Currently, Bill Gate's net worth is roughly $107 billion.
In another list published by Forbes, the two have also exchanged spots.
LVMH is a conglomerate of other brands which includes Christian Dior, Givenchy and Louis Vuitton. More so, Champagne brand Dom Pérignon and beauty retailer Sephora are under it.
Earlier this year, Mr Arnault pledged a whooping €200 million ($224 million) for purposes of reconstructing Paris' Notre Dame cathedral.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos holds the first position, with with a net worth of approximately $125 billion.
According to the same index, Bill Gates could still be holding the first position were it not for his large donations to charity. Recently, he gave out a whooping $35 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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