Walton vs Arnault
Walmart and LVMH.
The differences
- Forbes puts Alice Walton about $4.5B ahead of Bernard Arnault.Forbes figures from 12 Oct 2026 and 8 Oct 2026.
- Alice Walton: inherited it. Bernard Arnault: inherited and grew it.
- Alice Walton is from United States; Bernard Arnault is from France.
- Alice Walton has held a public or government advisory role; Bernard Arnault has none on record.
Put someone else on either side
Side by side
Walton
ArnaultThe money
- Net worth, Forbes
- $123BForbes, 12 Oct 2026
- $119BForbes, 8 Oct 2026
- Net worth, Bloomberg
- $137BBloomberg, 9 Oct 2026
- $133BBloomberg, 13 Oct 2026
- Forbes rank
- No. 15Real-Time list, 30 Sep 2026
- No. 7Annual list, date not stated
- Billionaire since
- Not stated
- 1997First year on a Forbes billionaires list: Forbes says he 'first appeared on Forbes' list of World's Billionaires in 1997', at an estimated $3.6 billion
Where it came from
- How it started
- Inherited itOnly daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton; Bloomberg calls her an heir to the fortune he created in Walmart
- Inherited and grew itStarted in his father's construction firm, Ferret-Savinel, and became its chairman in 1978; Forbes says he used $15 million from that business to buy Christian Dior in 1984. LVMH was formed in 1987 by merger and he has led it as majority shareholder since 1989
- Main source
- Walmart stock held mostly through the Walton Family Holdings Trust and Walton EnterprisesBloomberg: 'The majority of Alice Walton's fortune is derived from Walmart'
- LVMH stock, held mainly through Christian Dior and the family holding AgacheBloomberg: 'The majority of Bernard Arnault's fortune is derived from a 49% stake in LVMH'
- Companies
- WalmartWalmart: None; trustee of family holding entities
- LVMHLVMH: Chairman and CEO
- Biggest stake
- WalmartStake not stated
- LVMH50.33% owned
The person
- Born
- 7 Oct 1949Newport, Arkansas, United States
- 5 Mar 1949Roubaix, France
- Country
- United StatesLives in Fort Worth, Texas, United States
- FranceLives in Paris, France
- Education
- Bachelor's degreeBA in economics, Trinity University
- Bachelor's degreeÉcole polytechnique
- Parents
- Daughter of Sam and Helen Walton, who ran a five-and-dime store before Sam opened the first Walmart in 1962Before her philanthropy she worked in finance: equity analyst, founder of an investment bank, vice chairman of Arvest Bank Group
- Born to an industrial family; his father ran a construction businessLVMH: 'born to an industrial family'; Forbes: 'His father made a small fortune in construction'
What they give
- Giving Pledge
- Not a signer
- Not a signer
- Foundation
- Alice L. Walton FoundationFounded 2017; she also founded Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (2005) and the Art Bridges Foundation (2017)
- Fondation Louis VuittonCreated by the LVMH group, announced by Arnault in 2006; a corporate foundation rather than a personal one
- Lifetime giving
- $2BForbes, 16 Sep 2026. Forbes: more than an estimated $2 billion of her funds paid out by five family foundations through 2024; she has put more than $6 billion into them, plus at least $250 million to the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine
- Not stated
Role and record
- Role now
- No roleFounder of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Art Bridges Foundation and the Alice L. Walton Foundation
- Runs the companyChairman and CEO of LVMH; chairman of Groupe Arnault
- Successor
- Greg Penner, Rob Walton's son-in-law, chairs Walmart's board; John Furner became CEO in 2026Two Walton family members sit on the board as non-management directors
- None named; all five children hold rolesDelphine Arnault is chair and CEO of Christian Dior Couture and an LVMH director; Antoine Arnault joined the LVMH Executive Committee in February 2026; Alexandre and Frédéric Arnault sit on the LVMH board
- Public office
- Member, Smithsonian American Women's History Museum Advisory Council2021-
- None found
- Legal record
- 1979: US SEC; 1998: Municipal court (Judge Stanley Ludwig)In a settled SEC proceeding concerning her work at E.F. Hutton, the SEC found she had wilfully violated or aided and abetted violations of securities antifraud rules and suspended her from the securities industry for six months from January 30, 1979. A municipal judge found her guilty on four counts, including driving while intoxicated and refusing a blood-alcohol test, after she contested the charges at trial.
- 2026: Paris Administrative Court of AppealThe court ordered him and his wife to pay about 22.5 million euros in additional taxes, social contributions, penalties and interest for 2010 and in wealth tax for 2012 to 2015, reversing a 2020 judgment; his representatives said they would appeal to the Conseil d'État.
