Jewellery business owners named some of the richest people in the world

Forbes has released its annual rich list, which reveals jewellery business owners are still riding high as some of the richest people in the world.

In the 2019 billionaires list, Bernard Arnault & Family remain in the top five, clocking in at number four with an estimated net wealth of $76bn (£58bn).

Behind only the creator of Amazon, the creator of Microsoft and a legendary investor, the chairman, and CEO of LVMH is the richest man in luxury goods.

Arnault oversees 70 brands that include jewellery houses Chaumet, Fred, and Bulgari as well as watch firms Tag Heuer, Zenith and Hublot.

In joint place at number 317 in this year’s rich list is founder and owner of Graff Diamonds, Laurence Graff and his family, and Richemont Group chairman Johann Rupert. Both have an estimated net worth of $5.5bn (£4.23bn).

With a worth of $1.9bn (£1.46bn), owners of Swiss jewellery and watch house Chopard, Karl Scheufele III. and his family, are also among the world’s richest people.

Also worth a mention are the eponymous Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, and Nicola Bulgari, all having a wallet well over a billion strong.

For only the second year in a decade, both the number of billionaires and their total wealth shrank, proving that even the wealthiest are not immune to economic forces and weak stock markets.

According to Forbes latest count, there are 2,153 billionaires in the world, 55 fewer than a year ago. Of those, a record 994, or 46%, have less wealth than last year. This includes the chairman of Richemont who was just shy of making the top 10% of the list last year at number 228 with a worth of $7 billion (£5bn).

NewsSource: professionaljeweller