Trump’s billionaire pal warns he’s on the path to 'world catastrophe'

Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, attends the annual shareholders meeting of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton in Paris, France, April 23, 2026. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq

Bernard Arnault is one of the richest men in the world and someone President Donald Trump "really looks up to," but he probably will not like what the luxury goods tycoon had to say about his war causing a "world catastrophe," according to a report from The Daily Beast.

Arnault is a French businessman serving as the CEO of LVMH, a conglomerate formed by the merger of the famed fashion house Louis Vuitton and high-end alcohol producer Moët Hennessy, making him, as of last month, the seventh richest man on Earth. He is also a close friend and political ally of Trump, having attended his most recent inauguration, with the Daily Beast also noting that the president "wants to make him happy."

"Happy" was certainly not a word that would describe Arnault's recent comments to LVMH shareholders at their annual meeting in Paris. In an address to the audience at the general meeting, the CEO said that Trump's war with Iran might be pushing the world economy to the brink of a major catastrophe.

“The world is now in a pretty serious crisis in the Middle East,” Arnault said. “Either it’ll be a world catastrophe with very serious and very negative economic impact—in which case, who can say how 2026 will unfold—or it will be resolved more rapidly in some shape or form that we all hope for, even if it doesn’t seem to be easy, in which case, business will recover and resume their normal course.”

According to The Daily Beast, he also mentioned the severe impact that the war has had on LVMH's financial outlook, complaining that its "first-quarter organic sales growth" had been slashed by half, down to just 1 percent. The conglomerate's stock price, which began that year around 700 euros a piece, has also dipped by 35 percent since a February tariff announcement from Trump.

"The Middle East accounts for around mid-single digits of total sales for most major luxury companies—but profitability in the region tends to run higher, meaning the hit to bottom lines could be more severe than headline figures suggest," the report explained.

While Arnault claimed that a swift resolution to the war would lead to a similar swift resolution to the current economic crisis, that outlook is far from certain. The prospect of a lasting ceasefire with Iran and a permanent reopening of the Strait of Hormuz remains shaky at best. Sources within the Trump administration have also privately admitted to Congress that the economic pains from the war could potentially last well into 2027.

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