It hasn’t even been two months since Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH, said he was “optimistic” about the U.S. outlook on the direction of the Trump presidency. But the first effects of “trumpnomics” on his accounts, Bloombergs calculates, have few positive aspects. Amid ongoing or threatened trade wars, inflation and recession threats, global stock markets are falling and the assets of the billionaires who presided over the tycoon’s inauguration are plunging.
Where trumpnomics is taking us
Certainly Arnault, who has a long-standing friendship with the Republican leader, was right to call himself “optimistic”: he had benefited from the positive two months between the November vote and the beginning of the term in January, adding he was ready for direct investment in the US. The scenario turns out to have changed. Five billionaires were present at Trump’s inauguration ceremony on January 20: with Arnault were Elon Musk (Tesla, X, SpaceX), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Sergey Brin (Google) and Mark Zuckerberg (Meta-Facebook).
Well, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index their wealth declined by a total of $209 billion. The biggest drop was that of Musk (149 billion), but he deserves a separate discussion, as he is directly involved in the administration. Monsieur Arnault (in photo, Shutterstock), we said, lost $5 billion: his holding company’s stock did not benefit from the tension that geopolitics added to the uncertainties of luxury. Who knows if he is still optimistic now that the clash of tariffs between the sides of the Atlantic is reaching fashion products.
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