Asia's richest man back on top with $97B amid court probe reprieve

After a roller-coaster ride on the wealth rankings last year, Gautam Adani is back to being Asia’s wealthiest person days after India’s top court said no new probes were needed into Hindenburg Research’s bombshell allegations against the tycoon’s conglomerate.

Adani’s net worth rose $7.7 billion in a day to $97.6 billion, reclaiming the top spot in the region from Indian compatriot Mukesh Ambani, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd., was trailing by a narrow margin with a net worth of $97 billion, the index shows.

The comeback of the first-generation entrepreneur, who started off as a diamond trader in the 1980s, caps an eventful year for Adani’s ports-to-power conglomerate. Despite denying Hindenburg’s allegations of corporate fraud, the Adani Group lost more than $150 billion in market value at one point last year and spent months wooing back investors, lenders, repaying debt and assuaging regulatory concerns.

Adani Group’s stocks rallied after Supreme Court of India this week ordered the local markets regulator to conclude its investigation into the conglomerate within three months and said no more probes were needed, effectively drawing a line under the year-long short-seller saga. 

The court reprieve stoked a $13.3 billion wealth gain for Adani — world’s largest this year — after logging one of the world’s largest wealth losses in 2023. Adani’s net worth, however, is yet to fully recover from the short-seller’s broadside. It was at $118.9 billion at the close of Jan. 24, just before Hindenburg’s report was published.

Adani, whose conglomerate has committed an investment of $100 billion over the next decade for green transition across its businesses, is back to rapidly diversifying his empire beyond his coal trading origins into data centers, artificial intelligence, urban development, airports and media.