Gautam Adani is once again the richest person in Asia following a wild journey in the wealth rankings last year. This comes just days after India’s top court ruled that there was no need for further investigations into the shocking claims made by Hindenburg Research against the tycoon’s conglomerate.
According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Gautam Adani’s net worth increased $7.7 billion in a single day to $97.6 billion, enabling him to overtake Indian colleague Mukesh Ambani as the region’s richest person. With a net worth of $97 billion, Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd., was lagging behind by a small amount, according to the index.
The return of the first-generation businessman, who began his career in the 1980s as a diamond trader, brings Gautam Adani’s ports-to-power conglomerate’s exciting year to a close. The Adani Group lost more than $150 billion in market value at one point in the previous year, despite refuting Hindenburg’s accusations of corporate fraud. The company then spent months courting back lenders, investors, and satisfying regulatory concerns in addition to repaying loans.
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The Supreme Court of India this week effectively put an end to the year-long short-seller drama by ordering the local markets regulator to wrap up its inquiry against the conglomerate within three months and declaring that no further investigations were necessary, which caused Adani Group’s stocks to spike.
Gautam Adani experienced one of the biggest wealth losses in history in 2023, but the court’s respite fueled a $13.3 billion wealth gain for the company this year, making it the largest globally.
Gautam Adani, whose conglomerate has pledged to invest $100 billion over the next ten years in green transition across its companies, is also fast expanding his empire beyond his coal trading roots into digital infrastructure, media, airports, artificial intelligence, and data centers.
