Gautam Shantilal Adani, the chairman and founder of the Adani Group, is now the continent’s richest person.
According to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires Index, the 59-year-old philanthropist’s net worth reached $88.5 billion on Monday, February 7, 2022, beating Mukesh Ambani, who has a net worth of $87.9 billion. With a nearly $12 billion jump in his personal wealth, the mogul emerged as the wealthiest person in the continent and the 10th richest person in the world.
While Mukesh Ambani was holding the first position on the country’s rich list for 14 long years, Gautam Adani closed the gap quickly amid the rising share value of his companies.
The coal magnate’s focus on green renewable energy paid off quite well in the past year and some of his stocks jumped over 600% in the last two years. In the last one year, his wealth zoomed by $12 billion, while Mukesh Ambani was down by nearly $2.07 billion during the same period.
Currently, Gautam Adani owns a total of 12 ports and plans to be the world’s biggest ports operator by 2030. Known as the nation’s infrastructure king, he has announced plans to expand his green energy capacity by 2025.