Arnault, Pinault, Ferrero, Bulgheroni: the super rich in the wine & food world

According to the Forbes 2019 ranking, at 131 billion US dollars in assets Jeff Bezos, owner of the giant Amazon, is the richest man in the world, followed by Bill Gates at 96.5 billion US dollars, and Warren Buffett at 82.5 billion US dollars, but there are also names among the richest on the planet, linked to wine and the wine & food worlds. Starting with the fourth richest man in the world, Bernard Arnault, who is head of the LVMH luxury group, and the owner of, besides major fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton or Fendi, the “must” of jewelry Bulgari, as well as some of the most prestigious wine names in the world, such as Chateau d’Yquem, Cheval Blanc, Dom Pérignon, Ruinart, Moet & Chandon and Veuve Cliquot, who has built a personal fortune that Forbes has estimated at 76 billion US dollars.
In position number 30, instead, there is another Frenchman, Francois Pinault, whose patrimony is 32.5 billion US dollars, and is the “head of the family” Artemis, one of the biggest luxury groups in France, which possesses some of the most prestigious wine brands in the world, like Château Latour in Bordeaux and Clos de Tart in Burgundy, to mention just a couple.
Related to food specifically, and in particular to the confectionery industry, are the capitals of Jacquelin Mars and John Mars, (23.9 billion dollars each, at position number 33), who are at the helm of the famous American confectionery industry. Further, in position 35, at 22.8 billion dollars is the beer magnate Jorge Paulo Lemann, at the helm of the giant AB INBEV.
The first of the super rich Italians comes from the food world and, that is, Giovanni Ferrero, leading the great confectionery industry in Alba, who, by way of Nutella and other iconic products in the world, has built a personal fortune of 22.4 billion euros, and holds position number 39 on the ranking of the richest in the world.
Dietrich Mateschitz, co-founder of Red Bull, at 18.9 billion US dollars, is in position number 53 of the top 100 billionaires in the world linked to food & beverage, ahead of Lee Man Tat (number 63), chairman of LLK Group, the world’s largest producer of oyster sauce, at 17.1 billion dollars. Charoen Sirivandhanabhakdi, owner of Thai Beverage, Thailand’s largest brewer, at 14.5 billion dollars(number 87), Emmanuel Besnier, CEO of Lactalis, at 14.3 billion dollars (number 88), and Charlene de Cavalho-Heineken, shareholder of the Heineken beer giant, at 14.2 billion US dollars (number 89).
Additionally, among the names of the richest, the Italian Luca Garavoglia, chairman of the Campari group, whose patrimony is 3.2 billion US dollars (no. 691 in the world). Other personalities also linked to wine, and especially to Italy, are the Argentine oilman Alejandro Bulgheroni, in position number 715 of the richest in the world, whose patrimony amounts to 3.2 billion US dollars, and who is the owner of several estates in the top Tuscan territories, such as the historic Dievole, in Chianti Classico, Tenuta le Colonne and Tenuta Meraviglia in Bolgheri, Poggio Landi, in Montalcino, as well as other wineries in Argentina, Uruguay and Bordeaux, but there is also Andrè Esteves, Brazilian financier and owner of Argiano, one of the historical companies in Montalcino. Plus, among those that are in some way related to wine, there is the designer Renzo Rosso, owner of Diesel and producer at his Diesel Farm in Marostica, in the Vicenza area, who has built a personal wealth amounting to 2.5 billion of euros, making him the 916th richest man in the world.