Billionaire Gautam Adani, the world’s third richest person with a net worth of $121 billion, might be just weeks away from dethroning Elon Musk to become the world’s second richest, if both industrialists’ fortunes were to keep moving at the current pace. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has seen his wealth plummet to $137 billion now from $340 billion in November 2021. On the other hand, Gautam Adani, crowned ‘Asia’s busiest dealmaker’ by Bloomberg, is the only person in the top 10 in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to have actually added to his wealth in the last year. Gautam Adani’s fortune has gone up to $121 billion in one year.
Gautam Adani‘s net worth rose $44 billion in the last one year, while Musk’s fortune fell $133 billion. If Elon Musk‘s net worth were to continue to fall, and Gautam Adani were to keep adding billions to his fortune at the same pace as in the last 12 months, the Indian tycoon would surpass the Twitter boss in five weeks, or 35 days, to become the world’s second richest person. Calculation shows that while Musk lost an average of $0.36 billion every day, Adani added $0.12 billion to his fortune per day.
Gautam Adani’s net worth boost in 2022
The surge in Gautam Adani-led Adani Group company stocks were the main reason behind the billionaire’s net worth rising last year. The multinational conglomerate’s primary arm Adani Enterprises gained around 116% in 2022, more than doubling its investors’ wealth. Meanwhile, Adani Power stock surged 185%, Adani Wilmar over 105%, and Adani Total Gas soared 91%. Adani group’s market capitalisation grew nine-fold in just three years to cross Rs 17.9 lakh crore as on 23 December, making it India’s second most valuable firm just behind the Tata Group but ahead of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries. The rapid growth in Adani Group and its subsidiaries propelled Adani to the position of the third richest person in the world.
Elon Musk’s fall from the top of the world’s rich list
Elon Musk’s net worth rose above $300 billion in 2021 on account of run-up in Tesla share price during the easy-money pandemic era. Tesla share price soared and the company’s market cap hit the $1 trillion mark for the first time in October 2021, putting Tesla among the likes of Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc, and Google parent Alphabet Inc. However, since then, Tesla shares have seen a major correction. Tesla’s dominance in electric cars, the foundation of its lofty valuation, is now in jeopardy as competitors catch up. Meanwhile, with pressure on Tesla intensifying, Musk has also been preoccupied with Twitter, which he acquired for $44 billion last year.
According to Bloomberg’s wealth index, Tesla shares are no longer Musk’s biggest asset as shares fell 65% in 2022, and Musk sold so much in 2022 to help cover his Twitter purchase. Musk’s stake in his closely held Space Exploration Technologies Corp or SpaceX at $44.8 billion, exceeds his approximately $44 billion position in Tesla stock (he still has options worth an estimated $27.8 billion). Musk now owns 42.2% of SpaceX, according to recent regulatory filings. With Musk’s net worth dropping, Bernard Arnault, a Frenchman whose company LMVH, provides high society with its Louis Vuitton luggage, Christian Dior couture, Tiffany jewellery, and Dom Pérignon champagne, became the world richest man with a net worth of $162 billion.