Gautam Adani is the world’s third richest person, overtaking LVMH (LVMHF) chairman Bernard Arnaut and becoming the first Asian person to take that spot, Bloomberg and its Billionaires Index declared.
Adani, who runs one of India’s top conglomerates, is the richest man in India and the Asian continent worth approximately $137 billion, the Bloomberg tracker report shows.
The ranking comes after a surge in his wealth this week that placed him just behind Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and Amazon (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos, whose own fortunes are estimated at $251 billion and $153 billion, respectively.
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Adani is the founder of the Adani Group and controls companies ranging from ports and aerospace to solar energy and coal.
His fortune has grown exponentially since the start of the global health crisis, and he also benefited from an uptick in coal usage, which has catapulted his ascent in recent months, according to Bloomberg.
Adani overtook fellow Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani to become the region’s wealthiest person in February.
His ascendancy on the global wealth rankings comes as some members of the world’s 1% give away more of their resources.
In July, Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates announced he would devote $20 billion to the endowment of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and reiterated his intention to move “off of the list of the world’s richest people.”
Gates is currently ranked the world’s fifth richest person, according to Bloomberg’s index, with a net worth of $117 billion.
Last week, Adani made headlines by announcing a hostile bid to take over an influential broadcaster, New Delhi Television (NDTV). The deal is being pursued by AMG Media Networks, a unit of Adani’s conglomerate.
