Arnault in decline. Huang in a booming industry. Tesla still the champion. Negative publicity for Apple after Siri privacy lawsuit.

28 Jan 2024 received Bernard Arnault as the richest man on the planet. On 5 Jan 2025, he is the fifth richest man with a net worth of $161 billion USD and at this pace, possibly soon challenged by the number six who is “only three billions” behind. What went wrong for Arnault in 2024? One explanation could be the economic malaise in China. Arnault’s situation in 2025 could be defined by the way wealthy consumers approach the situation of historic inflation, steeper interest rates, and recession fears this new year. The situation of the luxury industry in 2025 is what would determine the situation for Arnault and his possibilities to rise to the top again.

As the artificial intelligence sector continues to boom in 2025, Huang keeps his solid position of growth in wealth and as a leader in the AI revolution.

Even though 2024 was a year in which Tesla’s annual sales fell for the first time in the company's history, the company had impressive results on Friday when the market closed. There is no sustained pattern of decline and if 2025 is as successful as 2024 was for Tesla, the company could grow from its current 8th richest in the world, to something higher. One challenge to overcome will be competition from other companies making electric vehicles. Tesla is no longer having that market almost entirely to itself. There was speculation about production in 2025 of a new Tesla Model Y codenamed Juniper, supposedly to be unveiled early 2025. That could contribute to keeping Tesla as the champion in their industry.

The Siri privacy lawsuit where Apple agreed to pay a $95 million class-action settlement in cash is creating negative publicity in a moment where Apple needs to stop its stock decline that started on Dec. 27th, 2024. The unintentional Siri activation related to this lawsuit is for unintentionally accepting user recordings for Siri training without consent. On Fri 26 Jul 2019 17.34 BST, Alex Hern had written for The Guardian an article reporting that Apple contractors 'regularly hear confidential details' on Siri recordings. Apple told the Guardian: "A small portion of Siri requests are analysed to improve Siri and dictation. User requests are not associated with the user’s Apple ID. Siri responses are analysed in secure facilities and all reviewers are under the obligation to adhere to Apple’s strict confidentiality requirements."