Bernard Arnault replaces Bill Gates as world's second-richest person with $39 billion gains in a year; Jeff Bezos retains top slot

Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates is no longer the world’s richest man. Gates who never ranked lower than the second position on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index in the span of seven years has now been pushed to the third rank. [caption id=“attachment_7016541” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Bernard Arnault becomes the second-richest person. Image via News18.[/caption] Gates was unseated on Tuesday by French luxury goods-maker Bernard Arnault, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LVMH Moet Hennessy - Louis Vuitton SE, popularly known as LVMH. According to _ Bloomberg’_s report, Arnault added $39 billion to his fortune in 2019, which pushed his net worth to $107.6 billion, as he led over Gates by more than $200 million. He also became the only person among the 500 others on the list to have an individual gain of $39 billion to his fortune in a year alone. Arnault also made headlines recently when he committed to donate $226 million to the rebuilding of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral. Amazon chief Jeff Bezos continues to remain the richest man in the world, with a total net worth of $125 billion as Gates stands at the third rank with net worth of $107 billion. As per the publication, the trio’s combined wealth surpasses the individual market values of about every company in the S&P 500 Index including businesses like Walmart Inc, Exxon Mobil Corp and Walt Disney Co. Gates’ philanthropic giving, is believed to be one of the biggest reasons for his slip in ranking without which he would still have been the richest of them all. He donated over $35 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As for Bezos, his position remained unchanged despite his divorce with MacKenzie Bezos. The divorce settlement however made MacKenzie Bezos the fourth richest woman in the world. The richest Indian, Mukesh Ambani stands on the 13th spot, with a net worth of $51.8 billion followed by Azim Premji at the 48th rank with $20.5 billion. Founder and chairman of HCL, Shiv Nadar secured the 92nd spot followed by billionaire banker Uday Kotak at the 96th spot.