Luxury and cosmetics, drivers of French wealth
The luxury and cosmetics sector stands out in the Forbes ranking of French billionaires in 2023. The five wealthiest personalities in France are indeed major players in this industry. Among them are Bernard Arnault, founder and president of LVMH, as well as Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, heiress of L’Oréal. They are, in 2023, respectively the richest man and woman in the world with fortunes estimated at 211 and 80 billion dollars, or 290 billion dollars between them.
François Pinault, creator of Kering, and the brothers Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, owners of Chanel SA, complete this top 5.
Emmanuel Besnier, at the head of Lactalis, is the first billionaire in the ranking from a different sector, with a fortune estimated at 20.4 billion euros. The international influence of French luxury and cosmetics remains the country’s main source of wealth.
In addition, the Forbes ranking of French billionaires in 2023 has seven women among the wealthiest members. Most of them are heiresses, such as Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, who occupies the place of the richest woman in the world (11th in the world ranking), or even Tanya Saadé Zeenny and Danielle Bellon.
French billionaires finally can be represented
The list of French billionaires of 2023 also shows notable disparities. Two personalities, Francis Holder, president of the Paul bakeries/pastries, and Clément Fayat, winegrower, are leaving this closed circle. However, the total number of French billionaires remains unchanged, with 43 members.
As for the emblematic figures of French mobile telephony, Xavier Niel and Patrick Drahi, leaders of Free and SFR, they regress in the classification, positioning themselves respectively in 18th and 22nd places.
In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on health-related companies seems to be easing, even if Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna Therapeutics, joins the list in 21st place with an estimated fortune of 4.1 billion euros.
It should be noted, however, that France has only one billionaire in the world Top10, although in the most prestigious place of number 1. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Larry Ellison are number 2, 3 and 4 respectively, confirming the importance of the technology sector. Warren Buffet, genius investor, closes the Top5. The Forbes 2023 ranking also sees the Indian Gautam Andani, whose empire collapsed in early February 2023, disappear from the Top 10.