Arnault vs Slim
LVMH and América Móvil.
The differences
- Forbes puts Carlos Slim Helú about $1.7B ahead of Bernard Arnault.Forbes figures from 17 Oct 2026 and 8 Oct 2026.
- Bernard Arnault: inherited and grew it. Carlos Slim Helú: founded it.
- Carlos Slim Helú is about 9 years older than Bernard Arnault.
- Bernard Arnault is from France; Carlos Slim Helú is from Mexico.
- Carlos Slim Helú has held a public or government advisory role; Bernard Arnault has none on record.
Put someone else on either side
Side by side
Arnault
SlimThe money
- Net worth, Forbes
- $119BForbes, 8 Oct 2026
- $120BForbes, 17 Oct 2026
- Net worth, Bloomberg
- $133BBloomberg, 13 Oct 2026
- $118BBloomberg, 10 Oct 2026
- Forbes rank
- No. 7Annual list, date not stated
- No. 15Real-Time list, 20 Sep 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
- 1991First year on a Forbes billionaires list: Forbes says he 'first appeared on Forbes' Billionaires list in 1991 at $1.7 billion', mainly on his Grupo Carso stake
Where it came from
- 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
- Founded itBegan building Grupo Carso in 1965 at 25; Inmobiliaria Carso was incorporated in January 1966. He bought into Telmex at its 1990 privatisation; América Móvil was spun off from Telmex in 2000
- 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'
- Stakes in América Móvil, Grupo Carso and Grupo Financiero InbursaBloomberg: his most valuable asset is a majority shareholding in America Movil, followed by Grupo Carso and Inbursa
- Companies
- LVMHLVMH: Chairman and CEO
- América Móvil, Grupo CarsoAmérica Móvil: Honorary and life chairman; Grupo Carso: Honorary lifetime chairman
- Biggest stake
- LVMH50.33% owned
- Grupo Carso76% owned
The person
- Born
- 5 Mar 1949Roubaix, France
- 28 Jan 1940Mexico City, Mexico
- Country
- FranceLives in Paris, France
- MexicoLives in Mexico City, Mexico
- Education
- Bachelor's degreeÉcole polytechnique
- Bachelor's degreeCivil engineering degree, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), 1961
- 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 Julián Slim Haddad, a Lebanese immigrant, owned the dry-goods store La Estrella de Oriente and property in central Mexico City; mother Linda Helú
What they give
- Giving Pledge
- Not a signer
- Not a signer
- Foundation
- Fondation Louis VuittonCreated by the LVMH group, announced by Arnault in 2006; a corporate foundation rather than a personal one
- Fundación Carlos SlimFounded 1986; he also chairs Fundación Telmex
- Lifetime giving
- Not stated
- $4.2BForbes, 26 Mar 2019. Dated Forbes estimate: donations to the Carlos Slim Foundation since 2006, per his spokesman
Role and record
- Role now
- Runs the companyChairman and CEO of LVMH; chairman of Groupe Arnault
- Chair of the boardHonorary lifetime chairman of Grupo Carso; chairman of IDEAL and of his foundations
- 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
- His sons have taken over: Carlos Slim Domit chairs América Móvil and Grupo Carso; Patrick Slim Domit is co-chairman of América Móvil and was CEO of Grupo Carso; Marco Antonio Slim Domit is a Grupo Carso director
- Public office
- None found
- Member, UN high-level advisory group on energy and climate change; Co-leader, Mexico City Historic Centre citizens' advisory councilYear not stated; 2001-present
- 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.
- 2001: Texas state district court (Dallas); reversed by the Texas Court of Appeals in 2004After a jury verdict for COC Services in a dispute over a CompUSA franchise deal, the trial judge ordered him personally to pay $85.5 million; in 2004 the Court of Appeals reversed the judgment against him and his companies and ruled that COC take nothing from them.
