Johann Rupert, South-African Billionaire’s nets worth Dropped to $200 million in 72 hours

Johann Rupert, the richest person in South Africa and the second richest in Africa after Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, has experienced a rapid fall in his fortune over the past 72 hours.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which monitors and compares the wealth of the world’s top 500 billionaires, the decline in his net worth which amounts to $200 million, mirrors the recent global equity market retreat due to concerns about a possible recession.

Over the past three days, Rupert’s net worth has reportedly declined by $200 million from $12.7 billion on March 6 to $12.5 billion.

The recent decline in his net worth according to Bloombergcan be attributed to the performance of his 9.14-percent stake in Richemont, a Swiss luxury goods company that owns premium brands such as Chloe, Dunhill, Alaa, Cartier, and Delvaux. The stake represents most of Rupert’s $12.5-billion fortune.

Richemont shares on the Swiss and Johannesburg stock exchanges have decreased by more than 2.5 percent since the start of this week, falling from CHF 149.2 ($159.1) to CHF 145.5 ($155.15) .

This rapid fall in Richemont’s shares allowed its market capitalization to fall below the CHF76 billion ($81 billion) threshold, which resulted in Rupert’s 9.14-percent stake dropping in value to under $9.4 billion.

There has been a rumour that a leading luxury goods conglomerate headed by French billionaire Bernard Arnault, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton is on the move to acquire the Swiss-based luxury goods holding company.

LVMH is seeking to expand its jewelry segment by acquiring Richemont’s luxury jewelry brand, Cartier, according to insiders cited in the Swiss newspaper Finanz und Wirtschaft.

Johann Rupert’s history of resistance towards various takeover attempts might make the LMVH move in acquiring Cartier difficult.