Forbes Billionaires List: French business magnate Bernard Arnault overtakes Elon Musk as the world's richest

Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk is no longer the richest person on earth, rather, he has slipped to the second spot with a net worth of $180 billion, according to the latest ranking of billionaires by Forbes. Bernard Arnault, a French business magnate, investor, luxury goods tycoon, and owner of LVMH, has now become the richest person this year. Forbes reported that revenue, profits, and shares at LVMH have climbed to record highs this year. 

The magnificent growth by the company has helped the business add $53 billion to his fortune over the past 12 months, which is the biggest gain for any billionaire this year. His net worth stood at $211 billion.

The others who made it to the Forbes list of billionaires included Oracle's Larry Ellison, Microsoft's Bill Gates, Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett, and Bloomberg LP's Mike Bloomberg, among others. Some of the Indian business tycoons who made it to the top 100 on the list included Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, Cyrus Poonawalla, and Lakshmi Mittal. The total number of billionaires on this year's list fell to 2,640 (down from 2,688), marking the second straight year of decline.

Among the top 10 on the Forbes list, India’s Mukesh Ambani holds the spot as Asia’s richest person and the world’s ninth-richest billionaire.

Forbes added that "Elon Musk has mostly tweeted himself out of the top spot in the ranks" because Tesla shares are down 50% since his Twitter takeover a year ago. The magazine noted that SpaceX is a bright spot for Musk since its valuation has increased from $13 billion to $140 billion over the past year.

According to the Forbes list, a total of 254 people have lost their billionaire status this year. Two-thirds of the top 25 have lost their wealth as compared to their financial status in the last year, said the Forbes report. The maximum losses have been incurred by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos as the e-commerce giant’s shares crashed by 38 per cent and this drop lopped $57 billion from Bezos’ wealth. Jeff Bezos was ranked second in the world in 2022, but fell to third this year. 

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