Gautam Adani not even among top 20 billionaires in the world after stock crash

Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani has lost around half of his personal fortune due to the ongoing rout in the value of Adani Group stocks on Dalal Street. At present, the hard-pressed tycoon has a net worth of $61.3 billion on a yearly basis, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires’ Index. According to the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires’ Index, Adani has a net worth of $57.3 billion at present.

Gautam Adani-led Adani Group's stocks have been reeling under severe selling pressure since the New York-based short seller Hindenburg Research published an explosive report, accusing the conglomerate of indulging in stock market manipulation and money laundering. The rout in the stocks has wiped out Rs 10 lakh crore of notional wealth from shareholder's kitty as the stocks have nosedived up to 75 per cent from their peaks.

Adani Enterprises, Adani Transmission, Adani Total Gas, and Adani Green Energy are down 70-75 per cent from their respective peaks, whereas other companies from the conglomerate's stable, Adani Total Gas, Adani Power, and Adani Wilmar have lost 50-60 per cent of their value. Its latest acquisitions, like ACC, Ambuja Cements, and NDTV have also been hit hard.

Overall, the Adani Group has shed over $118 billion or Rs 9.74 lakh crore in market value ever since Hindenburg brought out its report. At present, eight of the ten worst-performing stocks in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index in 2023 are Adani firms.

The ongoing crisis came to a head late Wednesday when Gautam Adani announced that the withdrawal of its flagship company Adani Enterprises' much-publicised Rs 20,000 crore follow-on public offer (FPO). Adani later in a video address mention that the company's board did not find it 'morally correct' to go ahead with the FPO.

While announcing the withdrawal of the FPO, Adani said that the interest of the investors is paramount for him and all else follows thereafter. Commenting on how deep the crisis is, Sameer Kalra, the founder of Target Investors in Mumbai, said that investors who want concrete plans and actions are not just interested in clearing pledges. He added that the use of every rupee is critical now since a lot of stakeholders are involved.

Hindenburg accused the Adani Group of market manipulation and accounting fraud. The short selling firm also accused the members of the Adani family, and in particular Gautam Adani's brother Vinod, of controlling offshore shell entities in tax havens like Mauritius to facilitate money laundering.

Also read: Adani Ports slides 58% from 52-week high, out of top-50 most valued Indian companies

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Also watch: Gautam Adani on Adani Group's FPO withdrawal; Hindenburg Research, Adani Enterprises shares