PARIS – Bernard Arnault is not ranked as France’s richest man. Based on French journal Challenges, which printed its newest checklist of France’s greatest skilled fortunes Thursday, the founder, chairman and chief government officer of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, who had held the highest spot since 2017, has dropped to second place.

The highest spot is now held by the Hermès household, in keeping with the journal.

The Wertheimer household, homeowners of Chanel, remained quantity three on the checklist, which means France’s wealthiest enterprise empires stay within the realm of its luxurious titans, regardless of a tricky experience for the sector over the previous 12 months.

Arnault’s fortune mirrored by the comparatively poorer efficiency of LVMH’s inventory within the current previous.

Based on Challenges – by which LVMH is a stakeholder – Arnault’s fortune dropped 38 % final 12 months to 116.7 billion euros, its lowest degree since 2020. The corporate’s inventory efficiency — and that of different luxurious gamers – has been buffeted by uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs, a slowdown in China and lackluster buying and selling.

The Wertheimer household and L’Oréal’s Bettencourt-Meyers dynasty have additionally suffered from the worldwide context.

Hermès, in the meantime, has benefitted from what the journal described as its “pricing energy,” the capability to extend costs with out shedding customers. The leather-goods specialist now has a market capitalization of 245 billion euros, which means the corporate’s founding household, which owns two-thirds of its capital, now has a fortune estimated at 163.4 billion euros, up 5 % year-on-year. It’s the first time they’ve topped the checklist, which was began 30 years in the past and now options 145 billionaires, in contrast with 16 in its first version.

Luxurious’s titans will not be the one ones to have suffered from the intense volatility of current months. The full fortune of France’s richest dropped 100 billion euros year-on-year, to 1.13 trillion euros, in keeping with Challenges.

Luxurious’s greatest listed corporations will publish outcomes for the second quarter within the coming weeks – LVMH on July 24, Kering on July 29 and Hermès on July 30. As reported, the previous noticed gross sales down 2 % within the first three months of 2025, whereas Hermès revenues had been up 7.2 %.

Representatives of LVMH and Hermès didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.