Arnault vs Gates

LVMH and Microsoft.

The differences

Forbes puts Bernard Arnault about $0.8B ahead of Bill Gates.Forbes figures from 8 Oct 2026 and 15 Oct 2026.
Bernard Arnault: inherited and grew it. Bill Gates: co-founded it.
Bernard Arnault is about 6 years older than Bill Gates.
Bill Gates has signed the Giving Pledge; Bernard Arnault has not.
Bernard Arnault is from France; Bill Gates is from United States.

Put someone else on either side

Arnault

Gates

Net worth, Forbes: $119BForbes, 8 Oct 2026; $118BForbes, 15 Oct 2026
Net worth, Bloomberg: $133BBloomberg, 13 Oct 2026; $119BBloomberg, 16 Oct 2026
Forbes rank: No. 7Annual list, date not stated; No. 17Real-Time list, 15 Oct 2026
Billionaire since: 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; 1987Forbes first listed him as a billionaire in 1987

How it started: 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; Co-founded itCo-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975
Main source: 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'; Cascade Investment, built from Microsoft stock sales and dividendsBloomberg: 'The majority of Bill Gates' fortune is derived from Cascade Investment'
Companies: LVMHLVMH: Chairman and CEO; MicrosoftMicrosoft: Co-founder; technology advisor to the CEO
Biggest stake: LVMH50.33% owned; Microsoft1% owned

Born: 5 Mar 1949Roubaix, France; 28 Oct 1955Seattle, Washington, United States
Country: FranceLives in Paris, France; United StatesLives in Medina, Washington, United States
Education: Bachelor's degreeÉcole polytechnique; Left university without a degreeHarvard University, left without a degree (honorary degree in 2007)
Parents: 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'; Father William H. Gates Sr. was an attorney and civic leader; mother Mary Gates was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent and chair of United Way International

Giving Pledge: Not a signer; Signed in 2010Co-founded the Giving Pledge in 2010 with Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffett
Foundation: Fondation Louis VuittonCreated by the LVMH group, announced by Arnault in 2006; a corporate foundation rather than a personal one; Gates FoundationFormerly the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; renamed in 2025. He is trustee of the Gates Foundation Trust
Lifetime giving: Not stated; $63.9BGates Foundation, 31 Dec 2025. Joint total given by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates to the foundation from inception through 2025; no Gates-only figure is published

Role now: Runs the companyChairman and CEO of LVMH; chairman of Groupe Arnault; Founder, no executive roleChair of the Gates Foundation; technology advisor to Microsoft's CEO
Successor: 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; Steve Ballmer succeeded him as Microsoft CEO in 2000; Satya Nadella is now chairman and CEONo Gates family member is named in a Microsoft executive role in the cited sources
Public office: None found; None found
Legal record: 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.; 2004: US District Court for D.C. (DOJ case at the FTC's request)A consent final judgment in a case over a Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger notification violation ordered him to pay $800,000 in civil penalties, without trial or adjudication of facts or law.