French mogul Bernard Arnault, the second richest person in the world by virtue of his stake in luxury goods maker LVMH, said he sold his private plane after Twitter users started tracking his flights online.
Arnault, the 73-year-old co-founder of the Paris-based conglomerate that sells popular luxury brands such as handbag maker Louis Vuitton and the wine and spirits giant Moët Hennessy, told French-language Radio Classique that he has been renting private jets after selling the company-owned aircraft.
His remarks were first reported by Bloomberg News.
Arnault said the decision to sell the company’s private jet was made after Twitter accounts such as “I Fly Bernard” and “Bernard’s Airplane” sprung up. These accounts were devoted solely to tracking the aircraft’s movements.
“Indeed, with all these stories, the group had a plane and we sold it,” Arnault, whose net worth was pegged by Forbes at $150.7 billion on Monday, told Radio Classique, which happens to be owned by LVMH.
“The result now is that no one can see where I go because I rent planes when I use private planes.”
Arnault was the subject of intense backlash in France for his use of a private jet. The Twitter accounts routinely tracked his flights and critics used the information to point out just how much pollution they cause.
The criticism even prompted some French politicians to propose a ban or a tax on private jets.
Antoine Arnault, Bernard’s son, appeared on a French television show last week and defended his father’s use of a private jet.
“This plane is a work tool,” he said. “Our industry is hyper-competitive.”
Having a private jet nearby gives the CEO a chance to be first to fly to a distant city to meet with other businesspeople about prospective deals and products, according to Antoine Arnault.
The younger Arnault said that selling the plane was a good idea because revealing his father’s location could tip off competitors to LVMH’s future plans.
“It’s not very good that our competitors can know where we are at any moment,” he said.
“That can give ideas, it can also give leads, clues.”
Arnault is one of several billionaires who have had their flights tracked on social media.
Last year, Jack Sweeney, a tech-savvy 19-year-old college student, founded the Twitter account @ElonsJet, which gives regular updates on flights taken by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the world’s richest human, on his private plane.
Musk, who said that the site was a security risk, was so alarmed by Sweeney’s Twitter account that he contacted the student last year and offered him $5,000 to take it down.
“I don’t love the idea of being shot by a nutcase,” Musk wrote to Sweeney in a private message.
Sweeney turned down the $5,000 offer. He then demanded $50,000 from the Tesla chief.
Online users have also enlisted flight tracking software to keep tabs on the travel habits of stars such as Taylor Swift, Kylie Jenner, Drake, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and others.
Several celebrities have come under fire for using private jets to take short flights even while publicly declaring their support for combating climate change.
Jenner, the social media influencer and reality television star, was deemed a “climate criminal” online after she boasted of taking private jets for short, three-minute flights for trips that most people would make by car in around 45 minutes.
Other A-list stars who have been flagged online for excessive use of private planes include Swift, Floyd Mayweather, Jay-Z, Alex Rodriguez, Blake Shelton, Steven Spielberg, Mark Wahlberg, and Oprah Winfrey.
