Billionaire Gautam Adani, who is the world’s richest Indian and Asian, saw his fortune dwindle, pushing his Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking out of the top ten on the world’s richest list.
Gautam Adani, Chairman of Indian conglomerate Adani Group, has a net worth of $84.4 billion, while Jeff Bezos’ net worth has increased to $124 billion, as of January 31, 2023. Bernard Arnault with $189 billion is still the richest person in the world. Gautam Adani saw his net worth decline by $8.21 billion in the last 24 hours, and he has lost $36.1 billion so far this year, according to Bloomberg data.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index compiles daily rankings of the 500 richest people. Figures are updated at the close of each trading day in New York.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is now the world’s third-richest person, while the two richest people on the planet are Louis Vitton’s Bernard Arnault and Elon Musk, owner of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter.
Meanwhile, the selloff in Adani Group shares continued on Tuesday as Asia’s richest man looks to complete a $2.5 billion share sale by his flagship firm amid turmoil sparked by the short seller. Hindenburg Research.
Adani Total Gas Ltd. plunged by a daily cap of 10% to lead losses in most of the group’s shares. Flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd. rose 2% in early trading in Mumbai but stayed below the minimum price set for its follow-on share sale. Ten of the conglomerate’s companies have seen some $75 billion in market value wiped out as the defeat entered its fourth session.
The overall subscription to the share offering, the largest of its kind in India, stood at just 3% at the end of Monday, indicating that demand was likely hit due to allegations by Hindenburg Research that the Indian conglomerate used a network of offshore companies to inflate revenue and share prices as debt piled up.
That caused some analysts after the share sale to be skeptical that there will be enough demand under current terms, even after a $400 million investment from International Holding Co. IHC, controlled by a key member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi.
“IHC’s involvement may provide some tactical support for sentiment, but they’ve also been investors in the group before the FPO,” said Nitin Chanduka, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “Markets will seek more clarity on the allegations ahead of a significant rally in group equities,” he said of the broader outlook.
Adani is trying to execute the historic share sale to pay off part of the group companies’ debt, just as he refutes the accusations made by Hindenburg last week. The rapid decline in share prices has eroded the billionaire’s personal wealth and has also weighed on the Indian stock market, where some of his companies performed best last year.