Forbes richest list 2022: Musk tops; Ambani 10th followed by Adani

The Federal
6 April 2022 2:21 PM IST (Updated:2022-04-06 09:25:02)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has dethroned Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to become the richest person in the world. Musk has topped the World’s Billionaires list for the first time ever.

The list was released by Forbes and it has Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani at the 10th spot followed by infrastructure tycoon Gautam Adani and his family. Ambani retained his position and remained Asia’s richest person.

Also read: Adani topples Ambani as Asia’s richest, with net worth of $88.5 billion

Adani has jumped from 24th in 2021 to 11th this year as his fortune increased by $40 billion. In the 2020 world list, Adani was at 155 and 167 in 2019 and 154 in 2018.

The United States has the highest number of billionaires in the world with 735, up from 724 last year. China remains second, with 607 (including Hong Kong and Macau), followed by India (166), Germany (134) and Russia (83).

Forbes said it used stock prices and exchange rates from March 11 to calculate net worths. It found 2,668 billionaires (just 327 are women) around the globe for the 2022 World’s Billionaires list, down from a record 2,755 last year. Collectively, they’re worth $12.7 trillion, down from a record $13.1 trillion on the 2021 list.

Also read: India 3rd largest home of billionaires, Mukesh Ambani richest Asian

Musk’s net worth is $219 billion while Bezos’ is $171 billion. Ambani is worth $90.7 billion and Adani and his family $90 billion.

Musk added $68 billion to his fortune over the past year on the back of a 33% jump in the share price of his electric vehicle maker Tesla. He surpassed Jeff Bezos, who fell to No. 2 for the first time in four years due to a 3% drop in Amazon stock and increased charitable giving, which wiped $6 billion from his net worth, Forbes said.

India’s richest list sees Ambani, Adani, Shiv Nadar ($28.7 billion), Cyrus Poonawalla ($24.3 billion) and Radhakishan Damani ($20 billion) occupy the top five slots. Lakshmi Mittal ($17.9 billion), Savitri Jindal and family ($17.7 billion), Kumar Birla ($16.5 billion), Dilip Shanghvi ($15.6 billion) and Uday Kotak ($14.3 billion) complete the top 10.

While announcing the World’s Billionaires list, Forbes said, “War, pandemic and plunging stock markets have dented the fortunes of many of the richest people on the planet this year.”

“In all, 329 people fell off the billionaires’ list this year — the most since the 2009 financial crisis. That includes 169 ‘one-year wonders’, newcomers to the 2021 ranking, including Bumble’s Whitney Wolfe Herd and Peloton’s John Foley, who debuted a year ago and have already dropped from the list,” it added.

There are 236 newcomers joining the list this year, including pop star Rihanna, Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and venture capitalist Josh Kushner. Barbados, Bulgaria, Estonia and Uruguay each gained their first billionaires ever. And, despite the volatile year, 1,050 billionaires are wealthier than they were a year ago.

World’s richest list 2022 (Top 11)