The third-richest person in the world, Gautam Adani, is the first Asian to do so

30 Aug 2022 , 08:57 AM

Just a few years ago, Gautam Adani was mostly unknown outside of India. But last week, the Indian billionaire, a dropout from college who initially tried his luck as a diamond trader before switching to coal, became the third-richest person in the world.

It’s the first time an Asian has entered the top three of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index; Jack Ma of China and fellow citizen Mukesh Ambani have never done so. With a fortune of $137.4 billion, Adani has surpassed Bernard Arnault of France and is now just behind US billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in terms of wealth.

The 60-year-old Adani has invested the last five years in growing his coal-to-ports conglomerate by foraying into a variety of industries, including data centers, cement, media, and alumina. The firm today controls the largest private-sector coal miner, city-gas distributor, and operator of ports and airports in India. Environmentalists have attacked the company’s Carmichael mine in Australia, but it promised in November to invest $70 billion in renewable energy to become the greatest generator in the world.

The shift to green energy and infrastructure has attracted investments from companies like Warburg Pincus and TotalEnergies SE, allowing Adani to surpass US tech moguls in the hitherto untapped market. His rise has been accelerated even more by the recent jump in coal prices. In all, Adani increased his wealth by $60.9 billion in 2022 alone, five times more than anybody else. He initially eclipsed Ambani as the wealthiest Asian in February, hit the billionaire mark in April, and this month passed Bill Gates of Microsoft Corp. to become the fourth-richest person in the world.

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