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Bien Perez

American entrepreneur Elon Musk, chief executive of premium electric car maker Tesla Motors, has taken the top spot in a survey of the world's most searched luxury business leaders.
The study, conducted by DLG Intelligence, a division of Geneva-based marketing services company Digital Luxury Group, was derived from 8.5 million online searches for the heads of 500 luxury brands made on Google and Baidu from January to December last year.
The South Africa-born Musk has generated a lot attention last year because of Tesla's market expansion efforts, especially in China.
He said he expects both China and United States to become Tesla's two largest markets over the next several years. Slow sales on the mainland, however, has led to the resignation of two senior Tesla managers there last year.

At an industry conference in the US in January, Musk estimated Tesla's annual car sales to reach 500,000 annually by 2020, which would be the same year when the company becomes profitable.
The next three most-searched luxury business leaders in the DLG survey are long-established fashion tycoons.
Bernard Arnault, the chairman and chief executive at French multinational luxury goods conglomerate LVMH Moet Hennessy, was ranked in second place.
His Paris-based empire includes Christian Dior, champagne producer Moet & Chandon, cognac maker Hennessy, fine wine estate Chateau d'Yquem, and high-end fashion houses Louis Vuitton Malletier, Givenchy, Donna Karan, Celine, Kenzo and Marc Jacobs.
Third-ranked Francois-Henri Pinault is the chairman and chief executive of French luxury goods holding company Kering, formerly known as Pinault-Printemps-Redoute.
Kering's stable of brands include Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Brioni, Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga.

Miuccia Prada, the co-chief executive at Hong Kong-listed Prada Group, came in as the No 4 most-searched luxury business leader.
Milan-based Prada, which has about 250 boutique locations worldwide, sells a range of products that include clothing, cosmetics, fashion accessories, jewellery, perfumes, wristwatches and shoes.
"Although the men dominate the ranking, the proportion of women in CEO roles within the luxury industry is higher than the proportion of women CEOs in the Fortune 500. In 2014, women only held about fiver per cent of Fortune 500 CEO roles, but they hold 14 per cent in our top luxury CEO ranking," said David Sadigh, the founder and chief executive at Digital Luxury Group.
Rounding out the DLG survey's top 10 ranking are Christopher Bailey, chief executive at Burberry; Antoine Arnault, chief executive at Berluti and chairman at Loro Piana; Horacio Pagani, the founder and chief executive of Italian sports car manufacturer Pagani Automobili; Diego Della Valle, the chairman and chief executive at Italian leather goods company Tod's; Delphine Arnault, a director and executive vice-president at the LVMH Group; and Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, a director at Kering.


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Luxury & Gaming

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Prada boss among world's most-searched luxury business leaders

Tesla CEO Elon Musk at a news conference in Beijing. Musk was the most searched luxury business last year. Photo: Reuters

Tesla has targeted China as a key market, but sales have been lacklustre. Photo: Xinhua

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