Bernard Arnault, Amancio Ortega, And Other Fashion Moguls Make Up Forbes 2020 List Of World’s Wealthiest People

The Forbes 2020 list of billionaires was recently released by Business Magazine, Forbes. With 2095 people and a cumulative net worth of 8 million USD, this year’s list took a downturn compared to the 2362 billionaires and the cumulative net worth of 8.7 trillion USD recorded for 2019. 

Several business owners, with strong names in the fashion industry, were featured on the list. The likes of Bernard Arnault, Amancio Ortega, and  Francoise Bettencourt Meyers made their fortunes through their fashion houses and were among the top 20 on the list.

Bernard Arnault 

Bernard Arnault is the Chairman of the Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton Group, (LVMH). The group which is the world’s largest luxury-goods company consists of labels in different sectors such as Fashion and Leather goods, Perfumes and Cosmetics, and so on. Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and Givenchy are some of the notable fashion houses under LVMH.

The 71-year-old is estimated to have a net worth of 105.5 billion USD ranking third on the 2020 Billionaires list.

Amancio Ortega 

Amancio Ortega, the Spanish billionaire, is the Founder and former Chairman of the Inditex fashion group, best known for its chain of Zara clothing and accessories shops.

Zara, the world’s largest apparel retailer specializes in fast fashion and other products ranging from shoes to swimwear, beauty, perfumes, and many more.

Amancio Ortega has a net worth of 64.9 billion USD and ranks ninth on the list.

Francoise Bettencourt Meyers 

Francoise Bettencourt Meyers is a French billionaire heiress whose family owns the company L’Oréal.

L’Oréal is the world’s largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair colour, skincare, perfume, make-up, and many more.

With the 12th ranking on the list, she is estimated to have a net worth of 61.9 billion USD.

Phil Knight

Phil Knight is an American business magnate, Co-Founder, and current Chairman Emeritus of Nike. 

Nike is the popular multinational corporation that deals in the design, development, manufacturing and worldwide marketing and sales of footwear, apparel, accessories, and many more.

The business magnate is estimated to have a net worth of 40 billion USD, ranking 25th on the list.

François Pinault 

François Pinault is the Founder of the luxury group, Kering, the international luxury brand in which Gucci, Yves Saint Lauren, and many more, are a part of.

Ranking 27th on the Forbes list, the fashion mogul is estimated to have a net worth of 37.2 billion USD

Compared to the estimations from the previous year, the Forbes 2020 Billionaires list was greatly affected due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the world.

And as Kerry A. Dolan, Assistant Managing Editor of Wealth, Forbes stated,

“The world’s richest are not immune to the devastating impact of the coronavirus.”

However, billionaires like Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, and Eric Yuan, the founder of Zoom recorded a spike in their fortune because many people were indulging in online shopping, and teleconferencing as well.

Other fashion business owners like Takeshi Yanai, the Founder and President of Fast Retailing, a public Japanese retail holding company; Alan Wertheimer, who with his brother owns the controlling interest in House of Chanel, the widely known fashion house; and many more were also featured on the list.