World’s second richest man, Bernard Arnault, sells private jet so Twitter can’t track him – and says now, ‘no one can see where I go’

Bernard Arnault, the head of luxury empire LVMH, recently revealed the group had sold its private jet over the summer to stop Twitter accounts tracking his travels

Accounts sprang up to track the planes of French billionaires and to point out the pollution they cause. Arnault says now he rents private planes instead

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LVMH’s Bernard Arnault on board the group’s private jet. He recently revealed it had sold the plane to stop Twitter accounts from posting about his travels. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 11:15am, 18 Oct 2022

The world’s second-richest man has had enough of the Twitterverse tracking his every move in his private plane.

Bernard Arnault’s luxury-goods company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton sold its private jet, he said on October 17 on French radio station Radio Classique. Accounts such as I Fly Bernard and Bernard’s Airplane sprang up on Twitter to track the planes of French billionaires and to point out the pollution they cause.

The subject became a hot topic in France over the summer, with some politicians proposing to ban or tax private jets. One of the Twitter accounts bemoaned the fact that the LVMH jet had ceased to be registered in France.

“Still no word from either Bernard Arnault or LVMH on the subject of private jets,” Bernard’s Airplane wrote on September 10. “So Bernard, are you hiding?”

Arnault at the inauguration of the Atelier Louis Vuitton Vendome in Vendome, France, on February 22, 2022. Photo: Bloomberg

“Indeed, with all these stories, the group had a plane and we sold it,” Arnault said on the LVMH-owned radio station. “The result now is that no one can see where I go because I rent planes when I use private planes.”