Elon Musk slips to No. 2 on Forbes billionaires list as Bernard Arnault takes top spot

There's a new No. 1 atop Forbes' annual World Billionaires List: Bernard Arnault, owner of luxury goods brands such as Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Tiffany & Co.

Arnault, who co-founded LVMH in 1987, has overseen an increase in revenue and profits, which has added $53 billion to his fortune over the last year, according to Forbes 25 Richest People in the World, released this week. LVMH added Tiffany & Co. to its portfolio in 2020 and officially closed the deal in January 2021.

This isn't a big surprise because in December, Arnault had leapfrogged Elon Musk to earn the top spot on Forbes' real-time billionaires list.  

Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, last year topped Forbes' annual list of the 25 Richest People in the World, but saw his fortune decline by $39 billion, from $219 billion last year to $180 billion. 

"Musk has mostly tweeted himself out of the top spot on the ranks," Forbes said, noting Tesla stock's 50% decline since Musk's $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in April 2022.

At No. 3 on the annual list of richest people: Jeff Bezos at $114 billion. That's about $57 billion less than a year ago, the largest loss of anyone on the list, Forbes said. The big reason? A 38% decline in Amazon stock.

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Forbes' World's Billionaires list: A $200 billion decline

More facts from Forbes' World's Billionaires list:

• Collectively, the 25 richest people in the world are worth $2.1 trillion, down $200 billion from $2.3 trillion in 2022, Forbes said. 
• For the second straight year, the number of billionaires declined – from 2,668 in 2022 to 2,640 this year. The collective wealth of all the billionaires fell by $500 billion, to $12.2 trillion,  due to declines in public and private markets, Forbes said.
• Two who dropped out of the Top 25: Zhang Yiming, founder of Bytedance, the parent company of Tik Tok dropped from No. 25 to No. 26; and Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, fell from No. 19 No. 167.
• New to the Top 25: Canadian's richest person David Thomson, chairman of Thomson Reuters ($54.4 billion) and Nike cofounder Phil Knight ($45.1 billion).
• There are three women in the top 25: L’Oréal heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers (No. 11, $80.5 billion); Julia Koch, widow of Koch Industries exec, David Koch (No. 17, $59 billion); and Walmart heiress Alice Walton (No. 21, $56.7 billion).
• Americans hold 17 of the top 25 spots, Forbes said, with France and India each having two on the list.
• Eight of the 25 richest people made most of their money in technology, while seven made their fortunes in fashion & retail.

Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.

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