Behind Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault tussling to be the world’s richest person lies a bigger issue

There has always been a fascination about wealth, and this little battle is a fun story. But it also plays into the question of what will be the dominant industries of the next decade, writes Hamish McRae

Jeff Bezos represents US tech and Bernard Arnault is a symbol of luxury (Getty/AP)

On Friday Bernard Arnault, chair and chief executive of the French luxury business LVMH, was again the richest person in the world. He and Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, have spent the past few days swapping the pole position in the global wealth league table.

The reason for the tussle is that the share price of each company has been nudging up and down, and though LVMH is a less valuable company – it was worth €332bn (£277bn) on Friday against Amazon at $1.63 trillion (£1.15 trillion) – Arnault has a larger personal stake than Bezos.

There has always been a fascination about wealth, and this little battle is a fun story. But behind it is something much more important. It is the question: what will be the dominant industries of the next decade? Will they be the high-tech giants of America, the current winners of this particular game, or will they be something else?