French luxury goods maker LVMH became the first European company to be valued at more than $500 billion on Monday, thanks to rising sales in China and a stronger euro against the U.S. currency, Reuters reported.

The milestone comes less than two weeks after LVMH entered the world’s 10 largest companies following a significant increase in sales in the first quarter of this year.

LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SA reached a market capitalization of $500 billion this morning after its share price rose to €903.7 for a total value of €454 billion.

The company’s rise in value has also boosted the valuation of Bernard Arnault, the world’s richest man, after turning LVMH into a world-class player through a series of inspired acquisitions.

Now Bloomberg estimates his fortune at almost $212 billion, almost $50 billion more than that of Elon Musk, who occupies the second position in the ranking of the world’s largest billionaires.

A golden period for manufacturers of luxury goods

Bloomberg also notes that LVMH and its French luxury rivals are to the European stock market what Big Tech is to the U.S.: dominant businesses whose growth is steady even during periods of economic instability.

This is also evident from the ranking of the world’s most valuable companies, which recently included LVMH, elsewhere authoritatively dominated by American technology companies.

Luxury majors are breaking record after record for sales after lifting pandemic-induced lockdowns, despite the economic hardship it caused and then the worsening inflationary crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.

LVMH, Kering, Hermes, L’Oréal, Prada or Moncler, one after another, all the big names in the luxury industry have announced exceptional half-year results since last summer, with global sales increasing between 20% and 30% and an advance similar to profit .

Later, manufacturers of luxury cars, yachts and private jets reported the same situation.