Mukesh Ambani in Forbes Billionaires’ List

April 2020 \ Business & Investment \ BUSINESS AND GOVERNANCE

Mukesh Ambani in Forbes Billionaires’ List

Reliance Industries’ Chairman Mukesh Ambani has been ranked ...

Mr Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries’ Chairman Mukesh Ambani has been ranked 17th in the latest world billionaires list by Forbes with a net worth of $44.3 billion—once again leading the tally from India’s perspective. Mukesh Ambani chairs and runs $88 billion (revenue) oil and gas giant Reliance Industries, among India’s most valuable companies.

JEFF BEZOS TOPS FORBES LIST

Mr Jeff BezosIn

COVID-19 times, Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has maintained his top slot as world’s richest man with a net worth of $113 billion, followed by Bill Gates at $98 billion, according to the latest Forbes 34th annual worlds billionaires list. Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of luxury magnate LVMH (LVMHF), moved up the list as the third-wealthiest person with $76 billion fortune. At $67.5 billion, Warren Buffett’s fortune landed at fourth place.

“A notable newcomer to the list is Bezos’ ex-wife, MacKenzie Bezos, who lands at number 22 on the list with a total net worth of $36 billion,” said Forbes. Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, some of the world’s wealthiest are serving as agents of change and taking action to reinvent their businesses to aid in the global response to the coronavirus outbreak. Billionaires like Gates, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, Arnault, Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb and others are donating towards the global health crisis.

Oracle Founder and CTO Larry Ellison is at fifth position with a net worth of $59 billion. The total combined net worth of this year’s billionaires is $8 trillion, down from $8.7 trillion in 2020. While 267 people dropped off this year’s list, a record 1,062 individuals have seen a drop in their fortunes, owing to COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent economic fallouts. There are 241 women on the 2020 list, including seven who share their fortunes with their husband, child or sibling. US President Donald Trump’s net worth plunged $1 billion in less than a month, the report said.

Reliance Jio has signed on more than 340 million customers by offering free domestic voice calls, dirt-cheap data services and virtually free smartphones, said the report. The next Indian on the 34th annual list—veteran Mumbai investor Radhakishan Damani who is touted as India’s retail king after the March 2017 IPO of his supermarket chain DMart—is at a distant 65th position with a net worth of $16.6 billion.