While another 499 billionaires struggled to increase their fortunes this year, the world’s third richest man made $60 billion.
India-born Gautam Adani has a net worth of $137 billion, and Gautam Adani’s extraordinary wealth gain in 2022 has far exceeded those of any other billionaire, many of whom have seen their fortunes decline this year, according to Bloomberg statistics.
And that’s with the evaporation of billions of his fellow wealthy this year. The world’s richest company, Tesla TSLA,
CEO Elon Musk saw a loss of $18.9 billion this year bringing his fortune to $251 billion, while AMZN on Amazon.com saw,
CEO Jeff Bezos and second place on the rich list, saw his fortune drop by $39 billion this year, to $153 billion.
Bloomberg reported that Adani, a college dropout, jumped into the top three on Monday, the first time someone from Asia had made it so far in the rankings. This makes his billionaire stature even higher than that of CEO of luxury goods giant LVMH MC,
Bernald Arnault, Microsoft MSFT,
Co-founder Bill Gates, and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway BRK.A,
Warren Buffett.
Adani is the founder of the Indian multinational conglomerate, Adani Group, the country’s largest port operator. The company’s other businesses include electric power generation and transmission, renewable energy, natural gas, infrastructure, airport operations, and mining. Adani Solar, for example, has a target of generating 450 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030.
Total power TTE,
It entered into a deal earlier this month to acquire a 25% stake in Adani New Industries to produce and market green hydrogen in the country. Its main entity, Adani Enterprises 512599,
It saw a 73% jump in consolidated net profit for the first quarter ending in June, and a 225% increase in consolidated revenue. Shares are up 86% so far this year, while India’s S&P BSE Sensex 1 is up,
It rose by about 2.2%.
But the billionaire entrepreneur’s expansion spree has also raised debt concerns in some corners. According to media reports, debt research group CreditSights last week described Adani’s empire as “highly indebted” and at risk of falling into a “huge debt trap”, due to debt-funded growth plans.
Bloomberg recently indicated that Adani Green Energy 541450,
The debt-to-equity ratio saw an increase to 2,021%, the second highest in Asia after Datang Huayin Electric Power Co 600744,
MarketWatch has reached out to Adani Group for comment.