Indian billionaire becomes 3rd richest person in the world, ‎surpassing Bill Gates and Buffett

Indian businessman, Gautam Adani, who dropped out of college and tried his luck for the first time as a diamond dealer before turning to coal mining, has become the third richest person in the world.

It is the first time that an Asian person has entered the top three positions in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as his compatriot Mukesh Ambani and Jack Ma did not reach this rank.

With a fortune of $137.4 billion, Adani surpassed French Bernard Arnault, trailing only Americans Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

According to Al Arabiya, Adani, 60, has spent the past few years expanding his company’s business from coal to ports, venturing into everything from data centers to cement, media and alumina.

The group now owns the largest operator of ports and airports in India, the largest gas distributor and a coal mine. While the Carmichael mine in Australia has come under fire from environmentalists, in November it pledged to invest $70 billion in green energy to become the world’s largest producer of renewable energy.

Adani added $60.9 billion to his fortune in 2022 alone, 5 times more than anyone else added. He beat Ambani for the first time as the richest Asian man in February, and overtook Microsoft’s Bill Gates as the world’s fourth richest person last month.

Adani has also managed to outpace some of the world’s richest American billionaires in part because they recently boosted their philanthropy. Gates said in July that he was transferring $20 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, while Warren Buffett had already donated more than $35 billion to the charity.

The two, along with Gates’ ex-wife Melinda French Gates, started the Giving Pledge in 2010, pledging to give away most of their fortunes in their lifetime. Billions of dollars spent on philanthropy have pushed it to the bottom of Bloomberg’s Billionaires Ranking. Gates is currently ranked fifth and Buffett is in sixth place.

Adani also increased his charitable donations. In June, he pledged to donate $7.7 billion to social causes on the occasion of his 60th birthday.