SAN FRANCISCO: Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of world luxurious items firm LVMH, has returned as world’s richest man as Elon Musk misplaced greater than $18 billion in his internet price after Tesla inventory nosedived final week, wiping over $73 billion off the corporate’s market worth.

In accordance with Forbes’ real-time billionaire record, Arnault and his household’s internet price grew to $207.8 billion after a $23.6 billion enhance, passing Musk’s $204.5 billion.

LVMH shares have been up over 13 per cent on their final shut on Friday. The market cap of LVMH reached $388.8 billion, in comparison with Tesla’s $586.14 billion market cap.

The 74-year-old Bernard Arnault first surpassed Musk in December 2022.

In December final yr, Tesla and SpaceX CEO returned because the world’s richest man, recapturing the title from French luxurious tycoon Arnault.

With a mixed internet price of about $426 billion on the time, Musk and Arnault had lunch in Paris in June final yr. They met at Cheval Blanc, a luxurious lodge chain owned by Arnault’s LVMH.

In the meantime, Tesla shares plunged greater than 11 per cent final Friday, wiping $73 billion off the corporate’s market worth hours after it warned of slowing progress in electrical automobile gross sales and an existential menace from Chinese language rivals.

In an earnings presentation, the world’s most respected automaker stated its gross sales progress this yr “could also be notably decrease” than final because it continued growing the “next-generation” automobile, seemingly a lower-priced mannequin.

Whereas it reported a large 38 per cent enhance in deliveries final yr in contrast with 2022, Tesla had beforehand focused a 50 per cent annual progress charge averaged over a number of years, CNN reported.