Gautam Adani overtakes Bill Gates to become 4th richest man in the world

Gautam Adani has an estimated net worth of $115.5 billion and gained in the rankings on the Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires List after Gates announced his plans to donate $20 million.

Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, became the fourth richest man in the world, overtaking Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates with an estimated wealth of $115.5 billion on Thursday.

The Indian businessman eclipsed Gates, whose net worth is pegged at $104.6 billion according to the Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires List. Gates slipped in the rankings after he announced that he would be donating $20 billion from his wealth to his non-profit.

The 60-year-old business tycoon is only behind Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault & family of Louis Vuitton, and SpaceX's Elon Musk, who leads the rankings as the richest man in the world with a net worth of $235.8 billion.

Also Read | Gautam Adani now richer than Google founders

The development comes days after Adani announced that his group has won the tender for privatisation of a port in Israel in partnership with Gadot. "Delighted to win the tender for privatisation of the Port of Haifa in Israel with our partner Gadot. Immense strategic and historical significance for both nations,” Adani said in a tweet. The Port of Haifa is the largest of Israel's three major international seaports.

Meanwhile, a unit of Adani's flagship Adani Enterprise Ltd has also applied to participate in the July 26 auction of 5G spectrum. Adani Data Networks showed a net worth of Rs 248.35 crore in its application to participate in the auction at the close of application on July 8, according to the information posted by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

In May 2022, he made a big entry into cement when he won the race to acquire Swiss giant Holcim's cement business in India for $10.5 billion.