Indian business magnate Gautam Adani has displaced Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become the second-richest person in the world with an estimated wealth of $146.8 billion.
According to Bloomberg, Gautam Adani is the first individual from Asia to rank in the top three of the billionaire’s index while Tesla Founder and CEO Elon Musk continue to be the world’s wealthiest individual with an estimated $263.9 billion.
Adani has witnessed a rapid increase in his wealth this year displacing Mukesh Ambani, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet on the Bloomberg billionaire list.
Adani owns shares in six publicly traded companies that operate in ports, airports, green energy, and data centres.
While several others on the Bloomberg billionaires index have shed wealth so far this year, Gautam Adani has added more than $60 billion to his fortune in 2022 alone.
Investors King learnt that before February 2022, Gautam Adani was ranked below fellow Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani who is worth $93.4 billion and is currently at the eighth position on the global ranking.
Adani controls Mundra Port which is India’s largest seaport.
Around September 2020, he also acquired a 74% stake in Mumbai International Airport which is India’s second-busiest airport. This makes him the country’s biggest airport operator. In 2022, he also acquired Swiss giant Holcim’s cement business in India for $10.5 billion.
Strategically, Adani has set a big eye on green energy. He said he will invest up to $70 billion in renewable energy projects in his bid to become the world’s largest producer of green energy. It is not a surprise that shares in his renewable energy firm have spiked while shares in his power company, Adani Power have increased three-fold in the last year in response to rising energy demand.
Gautam Adani is a college dropout who spurned his father’s textile shop to set up a commodities export firm in 1988. He survived the terrorist attack in Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in 2008. He is 66 years old and happily married with two kids.
