Wealth growth of France's billionaires since the beginning of the pandemic 2020-2024

Published by Statista Research Department, Sep 11, 2024

In 2024, Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, the world's leading luxury goods company, topped the Forbes ranking of the world's leading billionaires, ahead of Elon Musk. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, his wealth has more than tripled, from 76 billion euros in 2020 to 233 billion in 2024. The second billionaire of France was Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, with a wealth of nearly 100 billion euros.

Record profits for CAC40 companies

In the first semester of 2022, the companies in the CAC40, the main index of the Paris stock exchange, had accumulated nearly 73 billion euros in profit, which represents 23 percent more than in the first half of 2021, and 53 percent more than the first half of 2019. The companies with the largest profits in 2021 were Vivendi, with nearly 25 billion euros, TotalEnergie (14.2 billion euros), and ArcelorMittal (13.2 billion euros).
By the first half of 2022, CAC40 companies had also seen their revenues increase by an average of 38 percent compared to the 2015-2019 period. For some companies, such as Stellantis, Essilor, or Worldline, this increase was even higher than 100 percent.
The main beneficiaries of these companies' dividends were the Arnault group, Blackrock, and the French State.

Taxation and tax havens

According to the Multinationals Observatory, the effective tax rate of the CAC40 has decreased between 2020 and 2021, from 37.55 percent to 25.44 percent. In other words, while the cumulative pre-tax profit of the CAC40 has tripled year on year, the tax paid has only doubled. The fair contribution of multinationals is a matter of debate in France and in particular the question of tax havens. The presence of large French groups in these jurisdictions with particularly low tax rates, or offering other advantageous conditions - although not necessarily providing evidence of illegal tax evasion - is an interesting indicator.
In 2022, 14.3 percent of CAC40 subsidiaries were located in tax havens. The energy company Engie had the most subsidiaries in these jurisdictions (328), followed by LVMH (277). However, Bernard Arnault's company had the largest proportion of subsidiaries registered in tax havens (almost a quarter).