Elon Musk just lost his spot as the richest person in the world

The honor once again belongs to LVMH's Bernard Arnault, Forbes says

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A close-up photo of LVMH CEO and chairman Bernard Arnault.
LVMH chair and CEO Bernard Arnault, who is at this moment richer than Elon Musk.
Photo: Stephane de Sakuten/AFP via Getty Images (Getty Images)

[Update: Elon Musk and Bernard Arnault keep taking turns as the world’s richest person]

The ever-changing winds of fortune atop the world’s ranking of billionaires are no longer blowing in Elon Musk’s favor: He’s been overtaken once again by LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault as the world’s richest man. Though Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index still has Musk at No. 1, followed by quickly gaining Jeff Bezos, the Forbes Real-Time Billionaire List says the transition has already taken place.

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Bloomberg and Forbes have long differed on methodology when it comes to ranking billionaires, disagreeing on how to calculate their wealth and how public to make those judgment calls, but in either case, Musk’s riches have been shrinking for a while now. Tesla stock, his biggest asset, has been losing value amid challenges from inside and outside the company.

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Plus, Bezos-founded Amazon and Arnault’s LVMH are doing much better, partly thanks to the dominance of cloud computing technology and skincare-savvy tweens, respectively.

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