Luxury goods in the cold winter, 18 months, LVMH boss dropped from the world's richest to fifth place

18 months ago, the stock price of the world's largest luxury goods group LVMH Group hit a record high, with its controlling shareholder Bernard Arnault briefly becoming the world's richest person. However, with the decline in demand from China for high-end fashion products such as LV bags and Dior dresses, LVMH's market value has evaporated by over 150 billion euros (approximately 163 billion US dollars). Arnault's wealth has also shrunk, dropping to fifth place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The index also shows that his wealth loss during this period amounted to a staggering 37 billion US dollars, making him the biggest loser among the top 500 billionaires globally. Today, the 75-year-old French founder has a net worth of around 174.5 billion US dollars, still ahead of Bill Gates but far behind the top-ranked Musk and other tech industry billionaires, whose wealth has grown by billions of dollars this year. The global economic downturn has shattered hopes of a "soft landing" for the luxury goods market. Investors are now concerned about how long the downturn will last and whether the future recovery can restore the previous prosperity. On Tuesday, LVMH released its third-quarter financial report, showing that due to reduced spending by Chinese consumers and the strengthening of the yen, all major divisions performed below expectations, with quarterly revenue declining for the first time since the pandemic, and core division sales experiencing the "first drop in four years." In particular, organic sales in the Asia (excluding Japan) region in the third quarter dropped by 16%, exceeding expectations. This marks the third consecutive quarter of negative growth for LVMH. Even sales growth in the company's second-largest market, the United States, has stalled. The performance guidance provided by the company to investors is vague, causing unease among investors. LVMH's Chief Financial Officer Jean-Jacques Guiony said on Tuesday when asked about the outlook, "I don't know. We've had ups and downs, the only thing we know is that when business is bad, it usually gets better afterwards. This is a cyclical industry." As a barometer for the entire industry, LVMH's sales figures may indicate that other competitors such as Brunello, Hermès, Kering Group, and L'Oréal will also see a decline in performance, with these companies set to announce their financial results this week and next. After the financial report was released on Tuesday, LVMH Group's US stocks plummeted by over 10.3% intraday, ultimately closing down by 7.94%, dragging down luxury goods concept stocks collectively. At the close of European stocks on Wednesday, LVMH Group fell by nearly 7.5% intraday, ending down by 3.68%, L'Oréal fell by up to 3.68%, Hermès dropped by 1.34%, and Kering Group fell by 0.82%