Gautam Adani overtakes Bill Gates to become 4th richest man in world

NEW DELHI: Adani Group founder and chairman, Gautam Adani on Thursday became the fourth richest man in the world, overtaking Microsoft co-founder Bill Gate.

According to Forbes’ RealTime Billionaires list, Adani has estimated wealth of $115.7 billion while Gates has $104.6 billion.

Gates slipped in the rankings after he announced that he would be donating $20 billion from his wealth to his non-profit. Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, tops the list with wealth worth $235.8 billion.

Bernard Arnault, founder and chairman of Louis Vuitton SE, comes second on the list with the wealth of $156.7 billion. He is followed by former Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos in third position, with a wealth of $148.4 billion.

Adani has once again become the richest Asian on the list, with RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani ranking at 10 with a net worth of $90.1 billion. Adani and Ambani are the only Indians in Forbes’ top 10 list.

Adani Group has businesses in airports and ports, generating and distributing electricity, and coal and gas trading. Adani entered the $100-billion wealth club a few months ago.

The growth can be linked to strong performance of the company and its stocks. Currently, Adani has been planning to foray into the telecom sector and compete with some of the top telcos like Bharti Airtel, and Reliance Jio.

In September 2020, Adani Group acquired a 74 per cent stake in the Mumbai International Airport, becoming India’s biggest airport operator.

In May 2022, Adani Group acquired Holcim’s stake in Ambuja Cements and ACC, in the biggest cement deal in the country worth $10.5 billion. He is now the second biggest player in the cement industry in the country.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ) in Israel, the company, jointly with Israel’s Gadot Group, won a tender to privatise Haifa port, the second largest port in Israel for $1.18 billion, on July 14.