Paris hosted a meeting between the two wealthiest people on the planet. Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and Twitter, met Bernard Arnault, arguably the most important representative of the global luxury sector, accompanied by his mother Maye Musk, and his sons Antoine and Alexandre.

The meeting took place on the terrace of the Cheval Blanc, a jewel of the LVMH portfolio located in the heart of Paris.

Elon Musk currently holds first place on the  Bloomberg Billionaires Index  with a fortune of 229 billion dollars. Bernard Arnault follows in second place with 197 billion dollars. The two regularly take turns at the top of the list of the richest people on the planet, depending on the performance of their own company on the stock market.

LVMH as an important advertising customer on social media

The meeting took place as part of Musk’s participation in the Viva Technology conference, an event in Paris dedicated to innovation and startups. The conference was organized by the advertising agency Publicis and the business and financial newspaper “Les échos”, which is also part of the LVMH empire.

Media speculated about the reasons for the meeting. As the owner of major luxury brands, Arnault is one of the most important advertisers on social media platforms, including Twitter. Musk, on the other hand, is trying to win back advertisers who have turned their backs on the platform because of his erratic management style.

Advertising for new Tesla Gigafactory

In addition, Musk is currently on a European tour, where he was received in Rome by the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, among others. Rumors that Musk is planning another Tesla factory in Europe, which the trade magazine “Teslamag” has reported on, are likely to arouse interest. Top politicians in France – such as Macron’s digital minister – are also campaigning for the planned factory to be located in France and for the project to be supported with massive subsidies. Spain is also said to be under discussion as a location for a new factory.

Tesla currently has five factories known as Gigafactories worldwide. Ten to twelve factories are to be added by 2030, Musk said in August 2022.

In the past, Musk has also faced less enthusiasm in Europe: politicians even called for a ban on Musk’s social media platform because it did not comply with European data protection laws. The regulation on digital services, which is due to come into force in the European Union in August, requires platforms such as Twitter to monitor content more strictly and delete illegal content.

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The two richest men in the world were joined by Musk’s 75-year-old mother, Maye, and Arnault’s two sons, Antoine and Alexandre.