Johann Rupert, South Africa’s richest man and the second-richest person in Africa, has experienced a significant decline in fortune, losing $3.7 billion over the past three months. This downturn is attributed to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the performance of luxury goods companies.
Data from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index reveals that Rupert’s net worth slumped from $14.4 billion on July 16 to $10.7 billion as of the time of this report.
The primary driver behind this drastic shift is the substantial decrease in the market value of his 10.18-percent stake in Richemont, a Swiss luxury conglomerate renowned for its iconic brands such as Cartier, Montblanc, and Van Cleef & Arpels.
Over the past three months, Richemont’s shares, traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange, have experienced a notable drop of 31.2 percent. This decline pushed the company’s market capitalization below the CHF55 billion ($60 billion) threshold, with the market value of Rupert’s stake in Richemont falling below $7.2 billion.
The decline in the company’s valuation was further exacerbated by LVMH’s underwhelming nine-month and third-quarter financial results. These results failed to align with analysts’ expectations, triggering a downturn in the share prices of LVMH and its industry peers, including Richemont, which has Johann Rupert at its helm.
LVMH, the world’s largest luxury firm, often serves as a barometer for companies operating in the luxury goods sector. It reported quarterly revenue growth of only nine percent year-on-year, a substantial drop from its 17-percent growth rate in the second quarter. Analysts had predicted growth of approximately 11 percent.
In the past three months, LVMH’s shares, traded on the Euronext Exchange, have fallen by 25.97 percent, declining from EUR892.3 ($938.1) on July 14 to EUR660.6 ($694.5) at the time of this report.
This caused the luxury conglomerate to lose its position as Europe’s most valuable company by market capitalization to Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, which saw significant growth driven by its weight loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy.
