San Francisco, Dec 17 (IANS): Bernard Arnault, Chief Executive Officer of French luxury conglomerate LVMH, claimed the title of the richest man on Earth with a net worth of $109.6 billion, for a brief period.

According to Forbes' Real Time Billionaire rankings, on Monday by 4 p.m. market close, Amazon stock had risen 0.7 per cent. Arnault finished the day with $109.3 billion to his name, compared with Bezos' $110.1 billion.

However, Arnault remains firmly ahead of Bill Gates ($107.8 billion), whom he passed for the number two spot on Friday. Last month, Arnault was able to slide into second place due to rising LVMH stock.

Shares have bounced around since Arnault struck a deal to acquire American jeweller Tiffany & Co on November 25.

Last month, Bill Gates once officially surpassed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos as the richest person on Earth with a net worth of $110 billion.

The Microsoft co-founder had briefly topped Bezos as the richest man last month after Amazon's lacklustre third quarter results had Bezos losing nearly $7 billion in stock value.