The French Bernard Arnault and Françoise Bettencourt Meyers are the richest man and woman in the world, according to the “Forbes” ranking

One is CEO of the world number one luxury LVMH, the other heiress of L’Oréal. Frenchmen Bernard Arnault and Françoise Bettencourt Meyers are, together with their family, the richest man and woman in the world, according to the annual ranking Forbes for 2023, published on Tuesday 4 April. “For the first time in the history of the ranking, the richest man and woman in France are also the richest in the world. A double performance which testifies to the vigor of the French economy despite the successive crises that our country crosses, directly or indirectly”highlights Forbes France in its press release.

In 2022, Bernard Arnault ranked third in the annual list, dominated by Elon Musk, boss of Tesla, Twitter or SpaceX, and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon. But last December, the French billionaire had dethroned them by becoming with his family the biggest fortune in the world, according to the ranking “in real time” drawn up by the magazine, based in particular on stock market prices and exchange rates.

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, 11th richest in the world

In the world top 2023, the fortune of Bernard Arnault is estimated at 211 billion dollars (193.5 billion euros) – Forbes specifying to have “calculated net fortunes using stock prices and exchange rates as of Friday, March 11, 2023”. Elon Musk takes second place in the world rankings, with a fortune estimated at 180 billion dollars (165 billion euros), ahead of Jeff Bezos (114 billion dollars, 104.5 billion euros).

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers (and her family) – eleventh richest in the world with 80.5 billion dollars (73.8 billion euros) – is for the third consecutive year the richest woman in the world. She had also been in 2019, succeeding her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, the first woman in the ranking in 2016 and 2017.