Mukesh Ambani becomes 5th richest man

NEW YORK: Reliance Industries Chairperson Mukesh Ambani has become the fifth richest person in the world, with a net worth of $74.7 billion (Rs12.5tr), according to United States-based business magazine Forbes’ “Real Time Billionaires List”. This list is based on the value of the person’s stock holding and assets on a real time basis, foreign media reported.

According to the list, Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos is the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $185.8 billion (Rs31.13tr), followed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, with wealth amounting to $113.1 billion. In third place is Louis Vuitton SE Chairperson Bernard Arnault and his family, with a net worth of $112 billion. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is in fourth place with a fortune of $89 billion.

Ambani, placed fifth, is now wealthier than Berkshire Hathaway Chief Executive Officer Warren Buffett, and Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who have dropped below him in the latest rankings, according to the Forbes list.

Ambani has seen a string of deals for his digital business, primarily with investments in Reliance’s Jio Platforms, and shares of his conglomerate have more than doubled since hitting a low in March.

Last month, the industrialist had said that Reliance Industries had become “zero net debt”, an aim that he had announced at the shareholder meeting in 2019. This came after the company secured investments from some of the world’s largest firms such as Google, Facebook and Intel, as well as sovereign wealth funds from Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, firms like KKR, Silver Lake Partners and more.