Adani succeeding in old world play between tech billionaires

Gautam Adani made headlines on Friday, September 16, when he became the second richest person in the world for a brief period, before returning to no. 3 in the Forbes real-time billionaires rankings.

The 60-year-old is a first-generation entrepreneur and has seven publicly listed companies and is the Chairman of Adani Group. According to Forbes data, Adani’s net worth reached $154.7 billion for a brief period, before it came down to $152.3 billion. In the first instance, he had overtaken Louis Vitton‘s Bernard Arnault to become the second-richest person in the world, following Tesla & SpaceX’s Elon Musk.

Also Read: Gautam Adani back at No 3 after briefly surpassing Bernard Arnault for second spot on rich list

At the time Adani became the second-richest person in the world, he was followed by Bernard Arnault and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. However, Adani is now in third place, following Elon Musk at the top and Bernard Arnault in second place. Tech moguls Jeff Bezos (4th), Bill Gates (5th) and Larry Ellison (6th) are currently following Adani, making him the only Indian in the top five in a list dominated by tech billionaires.

At the time of writing this article, Gautam Adani’s net worth is $151.7 billion, 121.8 billion less than Elon Musk’s ($273.5 billion). However, his wealth is $2 billion more than Bezos (($149.7 billion), $46.4 billion more than Gates ($105.3 billion) and $53.4 billion more than Ellison (($98.3 billion). Adani’s net worth is also $59.4 billion more than Mukesh Ambani (($92.3 billion), the second richest Indian and eighth-richest person in the world. 

Also Read: Adani vs Ambani: Wealth of Asia’s wealthiest explained

Gautam Adani deals in several sectors such as infrastructure, mining, energy and others compared to the other billionaires who deal primarily in technology. Adani Enterprises has invested heavily in several new sectors in the past few years, including data centres, roads, airports, green hydrogen and solar cell manufacturing. The Group has also revealed that it plans to enter the telecommunications sector in future.

Adani Wilmar Ltd., the kitchen essentials company owned by Gautam Adani, is looking for local and overseas acquisitions to boost his empire’s food operations.