Gautam Shantilal Adani, founder and chairman of the Adani Group, attends a wedding reception on February 1, 2020 in New Delhi, India.
Manoj Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
Gautam Adani was the world’s third-richest person for a brief period this afternoon, when his net worth rose to $150.6 billion on Forbes’ Real-Time billionaire rankings.
Adani surpassed Amazon founder and chairman Jeff Bezos, whose fortune had dipped nearly $10 billion to $150.2 billion, after shares of the e-commerce giant dropped 7% in New York on Tuesday. The difference between the two net worths has become so narrow, their positions in the ranking seem likely to change again in the near future.
Elon Musk continues to have a firm hold on the top spot of the global wealth ranking with a net worth of $265.6 billion, while the No. 2 position is held by French fashion tycoon Bernard Arnault with $165.3 billion.
Adani’s wealth has almost trebled since last year as shares in his companies have soared on the back of a rapid expansion amid rising energy prices. The infrastructure tycoon owns stakes in six publicly traded companies that bear his name and operate in power, green energy, gas, ports and more. Adani became Asia’s richest person in February this year, when he overtook fellow Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, whose current net worth of $90.1 places him at No. 8.
Meanwhile, Bezos’ net worth has dropped 20% since April as Amazon’s shares dropped under pressure from slowing revenue growth, rising costs and rising interest rates.
In the first six months of 2022, Amazon posted a net loss of $5.8 billion, compared to net profit of $15.8 billion in the same period in 2021. Revenue was $237.7 billion for the first half of 2002, up 7.2% from $221.6 billion in the prior year period.