(Business Insider)-The new year has started off on a high note for Africa’s second richest man Johann Rupert, following the $400 million financial bump he experienced in the first week of 2023.
This is a welcomed development considering that the billionaire experienced a loss of $1.09 billion in 2022, resulting from a downturn in the market value of his Swiss luxury goods holding company, Compagnie Financiere Richemont.
Standing as one of Africa’s richest individuals, second only to multi-billion dollar tycoon Dangote, this South African magnate derives his wealth from a number of high end luxury ventures.
He owns a remarkable array of luxury brands under Richemont including Chloe, Dunhill, Alaa, Cartier, and Delvaux.
In Bloomberg’s billionaire index, which shows the updated net worths of 500 of the world’s richest individuals, Johann Rupert moved from the 162nd position to the 156th position in just one week. His net-worth has also gone up from $11.4 billion to $11.9 billion.
This increase is as a result of the increase in value of Richemonts’s shares on the stock market. The increase also serves as a precursor for what has been projected to be a rewarding year for the luxury goods industry.
Rupert’s 9.14% market value stake in the company due to recent increase in shares of the brand on the Swiss and Johannesburg stock exchanges, increased from $7.71 billion to $8.37 billion.
This is hardly an isolated incident in South Africa, as the country has recently been reported to have hit a historic high in its stock market.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange Top 40 companies index (.JTOPI) hit an all time high of 72,161 points Monday. The all-share index (.JALSH) reached a 10-month high of 78,238 points, a rise of about 1.8%.
Rupert’s Richemont has already recorded better numbers this year, in the period under review from what it did last year, by a substantial margin, and 2022 recorded better numbers for the billionaire that 2021, showing that this business man is on a steady pace in the right direction.
