Gautam Adani joins Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and others: meet the newest $US100bn man

Founder of India’s Adani Group hits a net worth of $US100bn, putting him among the top 10 wealthiest people in the world.

Gautam Adani hits a net worth of $132.67bn, putting him among the top 10 wealthiest people in the world. Picture: Sam Panthaky/AFP

The world has a new centibillionaire.

India’s Gautam Adani has reached a net worth of $US100bn ($A132.67bn), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He and nine other people, including Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, currently have a net worth of at least $US100bn.

While establishing the exact net worth of the world’s wealthiest can be tricky, in part because many of their holdings are private, these rankings have often been a source of bragging rights among the world’s richest, including Mr Musk and Mr Bezos who have sparred at one another over their respective wealth.

Mr Adani is founder and chairman of the Adani Group, a sprawling conglomerate with businesses in sectors such as energy, mining, real estate and agriculture.

Rising stock markets, particularly in India, over the past 12 months have helped drive Mr Adani’s net worth sharply higher.

Adani Group is composed of seven publicly listed entities with a combined market capitalisation of about $188bn, according to the conglomerate. One of the publicly traded companies, Adani Enterprises, has risen more than 80 per cent over the past 12 months.

Mr Adani’s net worth topped $US100bn on Monday, up from $US57bn a year ago.

Mr Adani joins the likes of Tesla’s Mr Musk, Amazon.com’s Mr Bezos and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s Bernard Arnault, who are the world’s three richest people respectively, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Mr Musk tops the list with a net worth of $US273bn. Mr Bezos is second at $US188bn. Frenchman Mr Arnault and Mr Adani and are the only non-Americans in the ranking’s top 10, all of whom are men.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index measures personal wealth based on changes in markets, the economy and other reporting. Figures are updated every business day.

The top 10 have a combined net worth of $US1.42 trillion.

Mr Adani pushed India’s Mukesh Ambani – chairman of Reliance Industries, which engages in the energy and telecommunications sectors – off the ranking’s top 10 list. His net worth is $US99bn.

The Wall Street Journal