The world's richest man has changed again.

Influenced by the decline of stock prices, according to the latest ranking data, Bernard Arnault, the chairman and CEO of LVMH Group, a French luxury giant, sat for a week as the richest person in the world and then retired to the second place.

In April 2023, the total market value of LVMH Group will exceed 500 billion US dollars (about 3.6 trillion yuan), becoming the first European enterprise to reach this figure. However, by the end of June 13, 2024, LVMH Group had reported 731.5 euros per share (about 5698 yuan per share), a decline of 0.53%, and its market value was about 394.3 billion dollars (about 2.9 trillion yuan). After more than a year, the market value of LVMH Group evaporated by about 100 billion dollars.

"Unpredictable Chinese consumers"

It is not difficult to understand why the market value of LVMH Group has shrunk. In the results of the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 disclosed recently, LVMH Group's revenue fell 2% year on year to 20.69 billion euros (about 162.28 billion yuan), the lowest growth rate in the same quarter since 2021.

From 2021 to 2023, LVMH's revenue in the first quarter was 13.96 billion euros, 18 billion euros and 21 billion euros (about 109.46 billion yuan, 141.17 billion yuan and 164.95 billion yuan), with growth rates of 32%, 29% and 17% respectively. LVMH Group attributed the decline in performance to economic environment and other factors.

In terms of regions, in the first quarter, the organic growth of LVMH Group in the Asian market (excluding Japan) fell by 6% year on year, making it the only region in the world with a decline. The proportion of revenue contributed by Asian markets (excluding Japan) also fell by 3 percentage points to 33% year on year.

Previously, in each first quarter of 2021-2023, LVMH has always maintained a growth rate of at least 8% in this market.

LVMH Group's brands include Louis Vuitton, Dior, Givenchy, Hennessy, Mo ë t&Chandon, Sephora, Bulgari and Tiffany&Co. Therefore, "LV could not be sold" became the focus of external discussion for a while. As one of the main forces of consumption, the consumption situation of Chinese consumers is more concerned.

Cheng Weixiong, an independent analyst in the fashion industry and the founder of Shanghai Liangqi Brand Management Co., Ltd., told Sino Singapore Jingwei that in the long run, luxury consumption such as LV is still stable, and currently it is only a temporary decline process.

Since this year, LVMH Group has taken many actions in the Chinese market.