Bernard Arnault, CEO of luxury conglomerate LVMH, revealed he once owned nearly 20% of Netflix but sold most of his shares early, missing out on a fortune. Arnault’s private family holding, Groupe Arnault, bought $30 million worth of Netflix stock in 1999, two years after the company’s founding. He sold most of his stake four years later when Netflix had a market cap of $500 million, according to fortune.com.
Arnault reflected on the investment during the Legend podcast, stating, “We had almost a full 20% [of Netflix]. Yes, I sold too early.” At the time of sale, Netflix was still a growing company mailing DVDs. Since then, Netflix’s valuation has surged to $300 billion, roughly 600 times higher than when Arnault sold. Had he held on, his stake could be worth up to $60 billion today, fortune.com reported.
The early investment was one of Arnault’s successful buy-ins alongside stakes in Google and his leadership of LVMH. Despite missing out on Netflix’s massive growth, Arnault’s fortune stands at $157 billion. The Netflix stake was a significant early bet on streaming entertainment, a sector that has since transformed global media and investment landscapes.
Arnault’s decision to exit Netflix in 2003 came before the company’s rapid expansion into streaming. Netflix’s current $300 billion valuation underscores the scale of growth in the streaming industry since the early 2000s, highlighting the value of early-stage tech investments in shaping billionaire portfolios, according to fortune.com.