Bernard Arnault has dropped down the list of the world’s richest men after a $54 billion collapse

“As long as I am not the richest man in the world, I will not be truly happy,” Bernard Arnault once said.

The day has come. Arnault, the founder and CEO of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, has gone from the world’s richest person to the fifth-richest after a 20% drop in his company’s share price, leading to a reduction of 54 billion dollars of his net worth.

Arnault, who oversees dozens of prestigious brands including Moët Hennessy, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Givenchy and Fendi, was worth an estimated $231 billion at the end of March, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That put him ahead of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

As of Monday, Arnault was worth an estimated $177 billion. Arnault now ranks below each of those executives, plus Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. Over the past year, LVMH shares have fallen more than 16% and are currently trading at around $132 per share; Arnault owns about 48% of the luxury conglomerate. Since the start of 2024, Arnault’s net worth has dropped by $30 billion, making him the biggest loser on the list to date.

LVMH did not respond wealthhis request for comment.

What is happening at LVMH?

In the first half of 2024, LVMH reported a modest decline in revenue, but its wine and spirits divisions fared even worse.

“Maybe the current global situation, be it geopolitical or macroeconomic, is not causing people to cheer up and open bottles of champagne,” said Jean-Jacques Guiony, LVMH’s chief financial officer, during the company’s earnings call at the end of the month July. “I don’t really know. In fact, it’s that our volumes are down by double digits.”

But it’s not just LVMH that has had a tough time in the current market. Other major luxury brands and holding companies reported losses this year. In fact, luxury revenue was flat in Q2 2024, the slowest growth in 15 quarters, according to a Bank of America note on luxury goods published Monday. Demand deteriorated in July, and August and September also slowed.

Michael Kors, owned by Capri Holdings, saw first-quarter revenue fall more than 14 percent year-over-year, according to Capri’s first-quarter fiscal 2025 results released Aug. 8.

“Sometimes you’re going to be the coolest thing on the block,” Michael Kors said in his testimony during an $8.5 billion antitrust lawsuit involving Capri Holdings and Tapestry. “Sometimes you will be lukewarm. Sometimes you’ll be cold.”

Bernard Arnault net worth

While Arnault has lost a huge amount of wealth this year as a result of the struggling luxury market, with a net worth of $177 billion, he is still richer than former Microsoft CEOs Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, as well as Warren Buffett, Michael Dell, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

The story continues

In addition, Arnault has remained active in investments this year. His family office has invested in five AI-focused startups this year worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Additionally, in July it joined the pursuit of acquiring the iconic Hotel Bauer in Venice for $305 million, but was outbid.

Arnault, 75, is not ready to leave his post: He pushed his board to raise the retirement age of its chairman and CEO from 75 to 80 so he could stay on longer. But he received a letter from Warren Buffett, 93, saying he should have raised the age limit, according to Bloomberg. Still, Arnault says he works 12-hour days.

“Every morning I have fun when I arrive,” Arnault said Bloomberg.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com