Following a wild ride through the wealth rankings last year, Gautam Adani has returned to his position as Asia’s richest person a few days after the Supreme Court ruled that no further investigations were required into the shocking claims made by Hindenburg Research against the tycoon’s conglomerate.
According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Mr. Adani’s net worth increased $7.7 billion in a single day to $97.6 billion, enabling him to overtake fellow Indian Mukesh Ambani as the richest person in the region. With a net worth of $97 billion, Mr. 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 as a diamond trader in the 1980s, brings Mr. 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 last year, despite refuting Hindenburg’s claims of corporate fraud. The company then spent months courting back lenders, investors, and satisfying regulatory concerns in addition to repaying debt.
The Supreme Court this week effectively put an end to the year-long short-seller drama by ordering the local markets regulator to wrap up its investigation into the conglomerate within three months and declaring that no further investigations were necessary, which caused Adani Group’s stocks to soar.
Mr. Adani’s wealth gained the most in the world this year, $13.3 billion, thanks to the court’s reprieve after he experienced one of the biggest losses in wealth globally in 2023.
With his conglomerate pledging to invest $100 billion over the next ten years in green transition across its businesses, Mr. Adani is also rapidly expanding his empire beyond his coal trading roots, into other industries such as data centers, artificial intelligence, airports, and media.
