The humiliation did not last long.
The earthquake that occurred in the hushed environment of the largest fortunes on the planet in mid-September seems to have completely disappeared.
It does not seem to have left any traces and even appears as a distant memory.
Everything even seems to be back to normal, that you even wonder if there was even a tremor. Jeff Bezos, the former richest man in the world, on Sept. 16 lost his title as the second richest man in the world to Indian businessman Gautam Adani.
The information has gone around the world as Americans, and more particularly the titans of tech, have dominated the rankings of the world's big fortunes for several years. The duo formed by Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, and Bezos at the top of these rankings has become a form of routine for those who love them.
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Bezos Is Back on Top
The founder and executive chairman of tech and online-retail giant Amazon (AMZN) on Sept. 16 had dropped to No. 3, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
That day, Bezos had a fortune estimated at slightly below $147 billion, compared to $147 billion for the Indian tycoon Gautam Adani, the Indian billionaire and chairman of Adani Group, an industrial conglomerate.
Two weeks later, Bezos regained his second place. He is worth $136 billion as of Sept. 30, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is preceded by Musk, the CEO of Tesla (TSLA), whose fortune is estimated at $236 billion.
Adani fell to fourth place with a fortune of $130 billion. Bernard Arnault, the CEO of the French luxury group LVMH (LVMHF) , returned to third place with a fortune estimated at $131 billion.
The fifth richest man in the world is Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft (MSFT), who is worth $105 billion.
If Bezos regained his title, the billionaire remains the person who has lost the most money among the members of the Top 10 since January. His fortune has indeed decreased by $56.5 billion in nine months.
Adani Is Only Rising Billionaire
Arnault lost $47.4 billion during that time, while Gates' fortune is down $32.8 billion and Musk's is down $32.2 billion.
Most of the wealth of these billionaires is based on the stakes they have in their respective companies. The shocks that the financial markets have been undergoing for several months are thus the cause of the decline in the fortunes of the richest.
Adani, on the other hand, is the only billionaire in the Top 10 to have seen his fortune increase since January. He is now worth $53.6 billion dollars more than at the start of 2022.
At the beginning of the year, Adani became the richest person in Asia, ahead of his countryman Mukesh Ambani. Ambani ranked 10th richest person in the world with an estimated fortune of $82.7 billion.
The rise of Adani began during the covid-19 pandemic. In March 2020, his net wealth was valued over $6 billion. Since then, his fortune has increased by a factor of almost 25.
Adani, 60, is not well-known in the West.
Born in 1962 in Ahmedabad in western India, Adani comes from a modest family of seven children whose father was a small textile merchant.
A self-made executive, Adani started working at age 16 at the diamond dealer Mahendra Brothers, where he was responsible for sorting precious stones.
In 1988, he founded a commodity trading firm that would become the Adani conglomerate.
Zuckerberg Continues to Decline
Adani has grown the group by acquiring companies with debt. Adani group has become the most valuable company in India. The company holds mines, ports and power plants. It owns a dozen commercial ports and is present in coal, electricity and renewable energy. It also has diversified into airports, data centers and defense.
The Top 10 richest people in the world is dominated by tech tycoons.
The co-founders of Alphabet (GOOGL), the parent company of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin are respectively the seventh and eighth richest people in the world with fortunes estimated at $88.7 billion and $84.9 billion respectively.
Iconic investor Warren Buffett is sixth with a net worth of $94.2 billion, while Steve Ballmer is ninth with a net worth of $83.3 billion.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of social networking giant Meta Platforms (META), has been ejected from the frontrunners and is only 23rd richest on the planet. He is currently worth $50.9 billion after losing $74.6 billion since January.
The collapse of Zuckerberg's fortune coincides with the stock market crash of Meta, which faces tough competition from TikTok, and Apple's decision to give iPhone owners the choice to decide which apps can track their movements online.
