Indian billionaire surpasses Warren Buffett to become the 5th richest person in the world

Billionaire Gautam Adani’s fortune is growing at an astonishing rate. The Indian infrastructure mogul became the richest Asian billionaire in history (in USD terms) earlier this month and continues to climb higher up the billionaire rankings.

According to the statistics of ForbesAt the end of the trading session on April 22, the 59-year-old businessman owns a fortune of 123.7 billion USD. This number helps him surpass the legendary investor Warren Buffett – who currently has $ 121.7 billion – to become the world’s 5th richest billionaire.

Adani is the Founder and Chairman of Adani Group – a conglomerate operating in the port and energy sectors of India with 6 listed companies. Shares of these businesses have risen from 19% to 195% this year, as Adani Group expands into renewable energy, communications, airports…

Earlier this month, Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Co., run by the brother of the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates, invested $2 billion in three of Adani’s green energy-focused companies. The Indian billionaire expects his corporation to become the world’s largest green energy producer, with the goal of investing up to $70 billion in renewable energy projects.

Gautam Adani – Chairman and founder of Adani Group. Photo: Reuters

The son of a textile businessman, Adani dropped out of college and founded a commodity export company in 1988. In 2008, he joined the billionaires list for the first time. Forbes with an estimated net worth of $9.3 billion.

Adani’s fortune increased rapidly during the Covid-19 pandemic. He has expanded his empire with big deals such as buying a 74% stake in Mumbai International Airport in 2020 or spending $ 3.5 billion to buy Softbank’s stake in renewable energy in India. On April 22, Adani also agreed to buy Ocean Sparkle, India’s largest marine services company, in a deal worth $220 million.

Two years ago, the owner of Adani Group was worth just $8.9 billion. That number jumped to $50.5 billion in March 2021 thanks to a dizzying increase in stock prices – then continued to climb to $90 billion in March 2022.

A fortune of nearly $124 billion now makes Adani the richest person in India, $19 billion more than billionaire Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries.

According to the real-time ranking of Forbesthere are only 4 people in the world richer than Adani, including: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (net worth about 130.2 billion USD), French luxury goods king Bernard Arnault (167.9 billion USD), Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (170.2 billion USD). billion USD) and Elon Musk, Director of Tesla and SpaceX ($269.7 billion).

According to Linh Lam