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  5. Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani exit Bloomberg's $100 billion club amid business challenges

Business News

Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani exit Bloomberg's $100 billion club amid business challenges

Upstox
By Upstox News Desk

2 min read | Updated on December 16, 2024, 13:11 IST

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SUMMARY

Adani’s wealth has been impacted by allegations of fraud, legal battles, and a significant decline in market capitalisation following the Hindenburg Research report. Meanwhile, Ambani’s Reliance Industries (RIL) faces underperforming stock, widening debt, and reduced institutional ownership.

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ADANIENT
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RELIANCE
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Mukesh Ambani’s (right) net worth now stands at $96.7 billion, ranking him 17th globally, while Guatam Adani’s $82.1 billion fortune places him 19th.

India’s richest businessmen, Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, have fallen out of the Bloomberg $100 billion club amid challenges faced by their respective business empires. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Ambani’s net worth stands at $96.7 billion, placing him 17th globally, while Adani’s $82.1 billion fortune positions him 19th.

Gautam Adani, who briefly became the world’s second-richest person in September 2022, saw his fortune soar past $100 billion in April of that year.

However, a scathing January 2023 report by Hindenburg Research accused Adani’s business group of fraud, leading to a $150 billion plunge in the market value of his companies. At its nadir, the Adani Group’s market capitalisation fell by over $135 billion, and Adani himself dropped out of the top 25 richest individuals worldwide.
The setbacks intensified last month when the US Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission filed securities fraud, wire fraud, and anti-corruption charges against Adani and key associates linked to Adani Green Energy Ltd. The Adani Group has denied these allegations, just as it previously rejected the claims in the Hindenburg report.
Despite these challenges, a Bernstein report suggests that the Adani Group’s financial health has improved. Promoter share pledges have significantly reduced, overall debt has declined slightly from ₹2.41 lakh crore in March 2023 to ₹2.38 lakh crore in September 2023, and leverage ratios have decreased from 3.8 times pre-Hindenburg to under 2.5 times.

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. has faced its own hurdles. Reliance’s stock has underperformed India’s equity markets in 2024, slipping 1.5% compared to the Nifty 50 Index’s 14% gain. This disparity has led to the widest gap in over four years between analysts’ price targets and the stock’s current valuation, according to a Bloomberg report.

While Reliance continues to attract bullish forecasts due to investments in energy, telecommunications, and retail, concerns persist over rising debt and negative cash flow projections. Institutional investors have reduced their stakes, with foreign institutional ownership declining from over 25% in 2020 to 20.17% in September 2024.

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About The Author

Upstox
Upstox News Desk is a team of journalists who passionately cover stock markets, economy, commodities, latest business trends, and personal finance.