Meet billionaire Gautam Adani, a college dropout who just became the third-richest person in the world

Gautam Adani is the third richest person in the world, behind only Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

 

There’s a new No. 3 on the global wealth rankings. Indian billionaire Gautam Adani leapfrogged luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault on Tuesday.

With a $137 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Adani is the first-ever Asian man to crack the top three. He sits behind only Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (worth $153 billion) and Tesla CEO Elon Musk (worth $251 billion) on the rich list.

The milestone comes just six months after he was named the richest person in Asia. Adani has added $60.9 billion to his fortune so far this year, making him the only member of the top 10 to not have his net worth drop in 2022.

Adani has come a long way from dropping out of college in his second year at Gujarat University to become a diamond sorter. He is the founder of the Adani Group, which has a massive portfolio of companies in various industries, including ports, coal and energy.

Adani first became a billionaire in 2008, 20 years after starting his commodities export firm. The 60-year-old passed Bill Gates on the rich list in July after Gates announced he would be giving $20 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Whether the tycoon can hold onto his No. 3 spot remains to be seen. Analysts have raised concerns about the amount of debt his company has taken on during its expansion. Additionally, a boost to the stock prices of companies like Arnault’s LVMH or Gates’ Microsoft could see Adani fall back out of the top three.

These are the 10 richest people in the world as of August 30, 2022, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

1. Elon Musk — $251 billion
2. Jeff Bezos — $153 billion
3. Gautam Adani — $137 billion
4. Bernard Arnault — $136 billion
5. Bill Gates — $117 billion
6. Warren Buffett — $100 billion
7. Larry Page — $93.3 billion
8. Sergey Brin — $95.8 billion
9. Steve Ballmer — $93.7 billion
10. Larry Ellison — $93.3 billion