Billionaire Mukesh Ambani has once again ascended the ranks to become the richest Asian in the world, with a fortune estimated at $81.3 billion. According to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List, Mukesh Ambani dethroned Chinese billionaire Zhong Shanshan with a personal wealth of $77 billion as of February, 26.
Indian industrial magnate Mukesh Ambani once again cemented his position in the top 10 most affluent in the world, despite Reliance Industries (RIL) shares falling 2.84% in a weak Mumbai market on Friday, valuing the company at $179 billion.
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On December 31, 2020, Shanshan, who owes his fortune to Nongfu Spring Co, a bottled water producer, and his Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise vaccine manufacturer had replaced Ambani to become Asia's most prosperous. This week, Nongfu Spring Co shares tanked 20%, making Shanshan poorer by $22 billion.
Ambani had retained the title of the world's richest Asian for the past two years, taking over the reins from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Jack Ma. However, the public listings of Shanshan's firms Nongfu Spring Co. and the Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co. helped him march past Ambani.
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Nongfu Spring Co.'s value more than tripled from its initial public offering to a peak in January, while Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co. surged as much as 3,757%.
Ambani stormed to the top 10 Billionaires list mid-last year after announcing that his company had become debt-free after raising over $20 billion for Jio, making him by far the most talked-about Indian billionaire in 2020.
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Ambani is seen focussing on pivoting his empire to tech and e-commerce, moving away from energy. This week, he announced a spin-off of the oil-to-chemicals unit (O2C)-which accounted for more than 60% of the conglomerate's revenue in the last fiscal year and would help the tycoon bring in more investors and expedite a proposed stake sale to Saudi Arabian Oil Co.
While Ambani and Shanshan are swapping titles for Asia's richest, Telsa Inc.'s Elon Musk and Amazon.com Inc.'s Jeff Bezos are swapping tags for the world's richest lately.