The Ahmedabad-based tycoon faced a loss of $21 billion on January 27 alone, triggered by allegations of financial irregularities from short-seller Hindenburg Research, resulting in a decline in the value of the Adani Group. These claims have been strongly refuted by the ports-to-power conglomerate, and the case is currently under consideration in the Supreme Court.

Mukesh Ambani, the only other Indian in the top 20 of the world’s wealthiest, holds the 13th position, two ranks above Adani in the Bloomberg’s list. The chairman of Reliance Industries has a fortune standing at $97.1 billion ( ₹8 lakh crore), reflecting a notable increase of $9.98 billion (0.8 lakh crore), registering 11.5 per cent growth in 2023.

Also read- ‘Reliance belongs to…’: What Mukesh Ambani said on RIL’s succession planning

How billionaires performed in 2023?

As the world recovered from Covid, the collective net worth of the 500 wealthiest individuals surged by $1.5 trillion in 2023, fully recovering from the $1.4 trillion loss the previous year. Once again, their fortunes closely mirrored the performance of tech stocks, which reached new records despite concerns about a recession, persistent inflation, high interest rates, and geopolitical turmoil.

Tech billionaires witnessed a 48 per cent increase in their wealth, totalling $658 billion, largely fuelled by heightened enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence, specifically generative AI like ChatGPT.

Also read- Generative vs traditional AI: Getting the fundamentals of data right

Who emerged as the wealthiest in 2023?

Elon Musk, reclaiming the title of the world’s richest person from French luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault, outperformed everyone. The chief executive of Tesla gained an additional $95.4 billion by Thursday’s close, buoyed by the success of Tesla and SpaceX, following a $138 billion loss in 2022.

Musk’s net worth now surpasses Arnault’s by over $50 billion, as a global slowdown in luxury goods demand impacted shares of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos augmented his wealth by over $70 billion this year, placing him in a close competition with Arnault for the second position. Meanwhile, Meta Platforms chief Mark Zuckerberg experienced a fortune surge of over $80 billion.

(Inputs from Bloomberg)