Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU.O) founder Chip Wilson now ranks among the 500 richest people on the planet as the company’s shares have surged 15 per cent since the yoga-wear maker reported blowout second-quarter results.
The Vancouver-based company climbed to a record after beating Wall Street’s net sales estimates for the eighth quarter in a row on Thursday and raising its full-year revenue and profit projections.
The share surge added US$311 million to Wilson’s fortune on Friday and a further US$41 million on Tuesday to leave him with a US$3.9 billion fortune, the 496th largest on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Wilson -- who owns a 13 per cent stake in Lululemon -- joins Canadians such as retailer Galen Weston and former EBay Inc. President Jeff Skoll on the ranking. Wilson’s holding company Hold It All Inc. didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment on his net worth.
Wilson, 62, can’t claim too much credit for recent operational results at Lululemon. He stepped down from the board in 2015, two years after resigning as chairman following an interview on Bloomberg Television in which he said Lululemon’s pants “don’t work for some women’s bodies.” He apologized a week later.
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