Indian billionaire surpasses Jeff Bezos as second richest man on earth

Mr. Adani now only trails Elon Musk, who remains the world’s richest person by a wide margin. He has a net worth of $264 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Jeff Bezos is now the third richest man on earth Pulse

The shake-up in the rankings of the world’s richest people comes as stocks have slumped this year amid rising interest rates and record inflation rates in the US. Many of the world’s wealthiest people have at least some of their net worth tied up in the financial markets, meaning volatility in stocks and other holdings can sway their measures of wealth.

Establishing the exact net worth of the world’s wealthiest can also be tricky, in part because many of their holdings are private.

Mr. Adani, 60 years old, is the chairman of Adani Group, an India-based conglomerate involved in initiatives including green energy, power and gas distribution. He net worth reached $100 billion in April. Later that month, his personal wealth exceeded that of Warren Buffet.

He is the first person from Asia who has ranked so high on Bloomberg’s wealth index, long dominated by U.S. tech entrepreneurs.

Mr. Adani’s net worth has climbed by $70 billion this year, as shares of his conglomerate’s publicly traded businesses have risen. His push into green energy comes as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stressed development for infrastructure and renewable energy.

Earlier this year, his company struck a deal of as much as $10.5 billion to acquire control of two Indian-listed cement companies. He has called his firm’s push into the cement industry “yet another validation of our belief in our nation’s growth story.”

Mr. Adani’s rise up the wealth ladder is a contrast from many of the world’s richest people. Nine of the 10 wealthiest individuals have seen their net worth drop this year; Mr. Adani is the only one whose wealth has risen, according to Bloomberg’s ranking.

Mr. Bezos stepped down from chief executive of Amazon last year and is now the company’s executive chairman. He owns almost 10% of Amazon’s shares outstanding as of Aug. 24, according to FactSet. Amazon’s stock has lost more than a quarter of its value so far this year, contributing to Mr. Bezos’ $45.5 billion decline in wealth. He also founded the privately held space company Blue Origin LLC.

Elon Musk is still the richest by over 100 billion dollars 4f6d6873-afe8-4c5c-a656-a63db4c93c36

The net worth of Mr. Musk, who runs Tesla Inc. and who also founded space exploration company SpaceX, has fallen $6.4 billion this year. Mr. Musk has been embroiled in a messy deal to buy Twitter Inc.