Two years ago, Gautam Adani’s net worth was $10B. Now, he’s the third-wealthiest person in the world, nearly rivaling Jeff Bezos.
How’d he get so rich?
Adani is the chairman and founder of Adani Group, an Indian multinational conglomerate with arms in gas, power, ports, and several other sectors.
- His many businesses often align with the priorities of India’s current administration, drawing investor trust and leading to close political ties.
- Surging prices across coal, gas, and oil have helped him rise in the rankings.
Some of his firms have extremely high price-to-earnings ratios, per Bloomberg. For example, Adani Green Energy Ltd. and Adani Total Gas Ltd. both have P/E ratios of ~750, while Tesla and Amazon’s are ~100.
- Critics have said Adani’s expansions have come with a lot of risk and debt, but Adani Group claims it has improved its debt over the years.
And if things continue, Adani could be looking over his shoulder at Musk.
Meanwhile, Bill Gates, number five on the world’s wealthiest list, has pledged to eventually give everything to his charitable foundation, thus removing himself from the list entirely.
