The wealthiest person in Asia has joined the club of the world's richest. Based on Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires Index, the personal fortune of Mukesh Ambani, president of Reliance Industries Ltd., has climbed to $64.6 billion, making him the only Asian tycoon in the elite club of the top 10 richest people in the globe.
He surpassed Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp, and France's Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the richest woman, to hit the No. 9 place. Ambani, who owns 42 percent of Reliance, has gained from a series of ventures in the digital arm of the group, Jio Platforms Ltd., which Reliance disclosed has made it free of debt ahead of a March 2021 deadline.
RIL raised Rs 1.75 trillion against its net debt of 1.61 trillion, through a 24.71 percent equity sale of its conglomerate Jio Platforms to almost a dozen investors, an issue of rights, and a share sale to United Kingdom-headquartered multinational oil and gas titan,
Over the last four quarters, Ambani has added $5.83 billion to his fortune and has been the only Indian businessman in the exclusive grouping to have eight American tycoons and two French. With a net worth of $47.6 billion, China's Jack Ma and Alibaba Group owner is the 20th richest person on the planet.
The shares of the Indian business empire have grown more than 200 percent from a low in March, just as other wealthy people on the list have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires list monitors the daily changes in the wealth of these richest individuals. The market value of their public holdings is updated every five minutes when global stock markets are open. Billionaires whose wealth is linked to private firms will have their net values updated at least once a day.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos tops the ranking with a net value of $160.2 billion, Bill Gates is on the second spot with $109.3 billion, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is on fourth place with $87.8 billion. The second wealthiest Indian on the Forbes list is DMart founder Radhakishan Damani, ranked 84th, with a net value of $16.2 billion.
Here are the Top 10 richest people on earth, according to Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires List:
1. Jeff Bezos, $160.2 billion, Amazon, US
2. Bill Gates, $109.3 billion, Microsoft, US
3. Bernard Arnault & Family, $103.2 billion, LVMH, France
4. Mark Zuckerberg, $87.8 billion, Facebook, US
5. Warren Buffet, $71.2 billion, Berkshire Hathaway, US
6. Steve Ballmer, $69.4 billion, Microsoft, US
7. Larry Ellison, $67.9 billion, Software, US
8. Amancio Ortega, $65.8 billion, Zara, Spain
9. Mukesh Ambani, $64.6 billion, Reliance, India
10. Larry Page, $64.5 billion, Google, US
