Mukesh Ambani richest in Asia, among top 10 in Hurun Global List 2020

BusinessToday.In

Jun 24, 2020,
Updated Jun 24, 2020 9:49 PM IST

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Here are the names of the top 10 richest billionaires. Chairman of Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani retains the position of richest in Asia.The Hurun Global List of 2020 has ranked 2,816 billionaires from 71 countries and from 2,182 companies.According to the report, a boom in tech valuations and strong stock markets across the US, India and China propelled the billionaires to record heights.The Top 10 added US $140 bn over the year and are now worth US $961 bn or 9% of the total list.

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1- Jeff Bezos (Founder and CEO, Amazon)Fifty-six year old Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, retains the top spot in the Hurun Global Rich List 2020 with US$140bn, down US$7bn, mainly due to the world's largest divorce settlement with former wife MacKenzie Bezos, who makes the list in her own right with US$44bn. With a net worth of $160 billion, Bezos' wealth zoomed from $20 billion in four months since the COVID-19 pandemic. He added $7 million every hour for the past four months, as per the special report titled "Wealth Impact 4 months after COVID-19 Outbreak".

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2- Bernard Arnault (Chairman and CEO of LVMH Mot Hennessy Louis Vuitton)Seventy year old Bernard Arnault, continued his meteoric rise up the rankings, up two spots to second place with US $107 bn, up US $21 bn on last year. Arnault in November announced a deal to acquire Tiffany for US $16 bn to get more access to US luxury consumers. The only non-American in the Top 5, Arnault was briefly the richest person in the world this past year, before Amazon's share price spike took Bezos to the top again.

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3- Bill Gates (Billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co founder)Bill Gates slipped to third place on the Hurun Global Rich List 2020, with US $106 bn, despite growing his wealth US$10bn or 10%. Last month, Gates announced a US $100 mn commitment to fight Coronavirus which has triggered a global health emergency. Over the past two decades, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given out more than US $50 bn to global health and education.

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4- Warren Buffet (Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway)Warren Buffett dropped down one place to fourth spot, despite a US$14bn or 16% increase to US $102 bn. A recent SEC filing shows that Berkshire Hathaway is investing money into defence stocks that are relatively immune from negative economic growth. Buffett currently holds 15.7% of Berkshire, despite having given away US$3.6bn worth of his shares to organisations including the Gates Foundation and the Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation. Buffett has given away US $34.5 bn since 2006.

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5- Mark Zuckerberg (CEO, Facebook)Mark Zuckerberg's, wealth was up by US$4bn, keeping him in fifth place with US$84bn. Zuckerberg sold over US$500mn worth of shares in the past year. At 35, he is by far the youngest of the Top 10.

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6- Amancio Ortega (Spanish billionaire businessman)Amancio Ortega, moved up one place to sixth, on the back of a massive US$25bn increase to US$81bn. The Spaniard owns Zara, through his holding company Inditex, which launched online sales in 106 new markets through its global platform. Ortega acquired commercial property worth US$11bn of prime shopping real estate in London and New York using dividends from Inditex. Tadashi Yanai, 70, of Fast Retailing, the owner of clothes retailer Uniqlo, also saw his wealth increase by over 40% to propel him into the Top 100 for the first time.

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7- Carlos Slim Helu & family (Mexican business magnate, investor and philanthropist)Carlos Slim Helu, down one place to seventh with US$72bn. Helu's fortune largely stems from telecommunications company America Movil and Grupo Carso, a holding company that engages in the retail, industrial, and construction business. Helu is a significant shareholder of the New York Times and financial conglomerate Citigroup.

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8- Sergey Brin and Larry Page Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Alphabet, both made the Top 10 for the second year running, up 26% and 26% to US$68bn and US$67bn respectively. Brin and Page stepped down 21 years after founding Google and relinquished control of the search engine's parent company, Alphabet, to Google CEO, Sundar Pichai.

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9- Mukesh Ambani (Chairman, Reliance Industries)Sixty- two year old Mukesh Ambani of Reliance maintained a Top 10 place for the second time after a US$13bn or 24% surge in his wealth to US$67bn. The only Asian in the Top 10, Ambani's wealth increased mainly on the back of a good performance in his telecoms business. Ambani is restructuring Reliance Industries to facilitate the planned strategic investments in group businesses - Reliance Jio, Reliance Retail, refining and petrochemicals. RIL became a zero net debt company before its target of March 2021.

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10- Steve Ballmer (American businessman and investor)Steve Ballmer of Microsoft was the biggest winner on the list this year, on the back of Microsoft's share price surge past US$1 trillion valuation and becoming the world's most valuable company again. Ballmer's 4% share of Microsoft was worth US$56 billion, with other assets including the Los Angeles Clippers, a basketball team.

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11- Cyrus Poonawalla (Chairman of Poonawalla Group)Cyrus Poonawalla is the 57th richest man in the world but finds mention as the only other Indian on this list. His fortune rose on account of strong business potential of his company, Serum Institute of India. Poonawalla ascended 57 places to 86th position in the list of world's richest people as of May 31 as his net worth surged 25% during the four months of COVID-19 pandemic. Pune-based Serum Institute of India is an unlisted company and is already the biggest vaccine maker in the world. The rise in Poonawalla's net worth has been helped by vaccine distribution and manufacturing potential of his business, the report said. Recently, Serum Institute struck an agreement with AstraZeneca to manufacture 1 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine being developed by Oxford University.