Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, whose empire includes companies in the sectors of ports, mining, and green energy, has joined the exclusive $100 billion club, bringing the total number of its members to just 10 people worldwide, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which was reviewed by "Al Arabiya." Adani has topped the list of the most profitable billionaires since the beginning of 2022, adding $24 billion to his fortune in just three months.
Adani surpassed his compatriot Mukesh Ambani, whose net worth crossed this threshold for the first time last October, before slightly decreasing to $99 billion, making him the richest man in Asia. The Indian billionaire, who did not complete his university education, initially amassed his wealth from the coal industry, but it surged significantly in the past two years due to a shift towards green energy and infrastructure, through investments in companies like French Total and Warburg Pincus.
Sources told Bloomberg that Adani is also exploring potential partnerships in Saudi Arabia, including the possibility of acquiring a stake in the world’s largest oil exporter. With his expansions focusing on areas considered critical by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for state-building and achieving the country’s long-term economic goals, Adani has reaped the rewards of those expansions, as some of his group's stocks have soared over 1000% since 2020.
Recent increases have added to Adani's wealth, which grew by $42.7 billion in 2021, the year that saw over $1 trillion added to the fortunes of the 500 richest people in the world. Unlike the wealthy in the United States, Asia's two richest men—Adani and Ambani—initially built their wealth outside the tech sector. However, Ambani has recently shifted focus towards this sector, which now constitutes the vast majority of billionaires' fortunes worldwide, after entering into e-commerce and technology, securing billions in investments from backers including Facebook and Google.
The acceleration of wealth formation has intensified in recent years; by 2017, Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos was the only person whose wealth exceeded $100 billion, surpassing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who had dominated the list since 1999. Over the past two years, competition between Bezos and Tesla founder Elon Musk has intensified, with Musk uniquely holding the title of the world's richest person with a fortune of $273 billion; he joined the $100 billion club in 2020.
