Zuckerberg Drops, India’s Adani Goes Up the Billionaire List

According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, things aren’t looking good for the Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg. 

As Facebook transitions to Meta, Zuckerberg’s net worth has reportedly taken a nosedive by almost $71 billion.  As of today, September 22,  he sits at number 22 down from 2020’s 3rd place. This makes him the biggest loser in the ultra rich category.

What’s responsible for this?

Approximately 13% of Zuckerberg’s personal wealth is tied to Meta. The world’s current economic turmoil has not been kind to Meta and the tech fraternity at large. According to Entrepreneur, investors are not confident in the virtual reality direction Meta is taking. 

 

Stiff competition from newcomers like TikTok has also immensely contributed to Meta’s woes. The company lost users for the first time in history in February 2022 which resulted in Zuckerberg losing $31 billion.

 

However, 12630 kilometers away from Wall Street, Indian business magnet Gautam Adani’s fortunes have soared.

Enter Gautam Adani

At 60, Gautam Adani is the 2nd richest person on earth with a net worth of $144 billion as of 22 September 2022. This makes him the first Asian to make the top 3 of the world’s wealthiest. 

As other billionaires were losing money, Adani’s businesses were rewarding him handsomely. The world’s richest Elon Musk lost $6 billion. Bill Gates  lost $27 billion while Amazon founder Jeff Bezos lost $46 billion. In the same period, Adani saw a $60.9 billion increase in his fortune.

 

According to Forbes, he first entered the billionaire club back in 2008 at $9.3 billion. 14 years and a couple of smart investments later, he comfortably sits at $144B. 

 

His listed companies and ventures include Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports & SEZ, Adani Power, Adani Transmission, Adani Total Gas, Adani Wilmar among others. He has his hands in  port management, electric power generation and transmission, renewable energy, mining, airport operations, natural gas, food processing and infrastructure.

 

Interestingly, it is evident that to be anywhere close to this elite group, you must have serious investments in multiple sectors of the economy.

 

Which Kenyan Industrialist would you like to someday see playing at this level?  

 

 

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