status of the wealthiest man in the world, with his net worth climbing to $198.4 billion. This occurred as sales of LVMH's luxury goods surged in China and other parts of Asia. He is listed as "Bernard Arnault & Family" on the Forbes Billionaires list. Forbes estimates the Bernard Arnault & Family fortune to be $158 billion in 2022, positioning him ahead of Bill Gates. Arnault owned the converted research vessel Amadeus, which was sold in late 2015. His current yacht Symphony was built in the Netherlands by Feadship. Arnault and his family have an estimated net worth of billion as of February 2023 according to Forbes, making him the richest person in the world, surpassing Elon Musk. Request for Belgian citizenship In 2013, it was disclosed that Arnault planned to apply for Belgian citizenship and was considering moving to Belgium. In April 2013, Arnault said that he had been misquoted and that he never intended to leave France: "I repeatedly said that I would stay as a resident in France and that I would continue to pay my taxes... Today, I decided to remove any ambiguity. I withdraw my request for Belgian nationality. Requesting Belgian nationality was to better protect the foundation that I created with the sole purpose of ensuring the continuity and integrity of the LVMH group if I were to disappear." On 10 April 2013, Arnault announced he had decided to abandon his application for Belgian citizenship, saying he did not want the move to be misinterpreted as a measure of tax evasion, at a time when France faced economic and social challenges. Arnault also stated several employees requested to leave France for tax purposes but he declined their requests, explaining "the 75% tax would not raise a lot of revenue but should prove less divisive, as now it was set to be levied on firms rather than people, and only due to stay in place for two years." Transport In October 2022 Arnault stated that LVMH sold its private jet after a Twitter user began to track its flights and stated he began renting private aircraft for his personal and business flights instead. The aircraft was a Bombardier Global 7500 which was registered F-GVMA. Political views In the second round of the 2017 French presidential election, Arnault supported Emmanuel Macron. Brigitte Macron was the French teacher of Arnault's sons Frédéric and Jean when they were