New Delhi: In COVID-19 times, Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has maintained his top slot as worlds richest man with a net worth of $113 billion, followed by Bill Gates at $98 billion, according to the latest Forbes 34th annual worlds billionaires list.
Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of luxury magnate LVMH (LVMHF), moved up the list as the third-wealthiest person with $76 billion fortune. At $67.5 billion, Warren Buffett's fortune landed at fourth place.
Also Read: Amazon To Invest $1 Bn To Digitise Indian SMBs: Jeff Bezos
"A notable newcomer to the list is Bezos' ex-wife, MacKenzie Bezos, who lands at No 22 on the list with a total net worth of $36 billion," said Forbes.
Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, some of the world's wealthiest are serving as agents of change and taking action to reinvent their businesses to aid in the global response to the coronavirus outbreak. Billionaires like Gates, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, Arnault, Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb and others are donating towards the global health crisis.
Oracle Founder and CTO Larry Ellison is at fifth position with a net worth of $59 billion. The total combined net worth of this year's billionaires is $8 trillion, down from $8.7 trillion in 2020.
While 267 people dropped off this year's list, a record 1,062 individuals have seen a drop in their fortunes, owing to COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent economic fallouts.
There are 241 women on the 2020 list, including seven who share their fortunes with their husband, child or sibling.
Mukesh Ambani with $44bn top Indian in Forbes world billionaires' list
Reliance Industries' Chairman Mukesh Ambani has been ranked 17th in the latest world billionaires list by Forbes with a net worth of $44.3 billion – once again leading the tally from India's perspective.
Mukesh Ambani chairs and runs $88 billion (revenue) oil and gas giant Reliance Industries, among India's most valuable companies.
Reliance Jio has signed on more than 340 million customers by offering free domestic voice calls, dirt-cheap data services and virtually free smartphones, said the report.
The next Indian on the 34th annual list -- veteran Mumbai investor Radhakishan Damani who is touted as India's retail king after the March 2017 IPO of his supermarket chain DMart – is at a distant 65th position with a net worth of $16.6 billion.
Damani got into retailing in 2002 with one store in suburban Mumbai and has been unstoppable since. His property portfolio includes the 156-room Radisson Blu Resort in Alibag and a popular beach-front getaway close to Mumbai, according to the report.
At 114th position, HCL Technologies Founder Shiv Nadar is worth $12.4 billion. One of India's leading philanthropists, Nadar has donated $662 million to his Shiv Nadar Foundation.
While Hinduja brothers are at 116th position with $12.2 billion net worth. Srichand and Gopichand live in London and Prakash resides in Monaco while the youngest sibling Ashok oversees their Indian interests from Mumbai.
Also Read: Mukesh Ambani No Longer Asia’s Richest, On Oil Price Fall
At 138th position, Uday Kotak is worth $10.7 billion. His Kotak Mahindra Bank is now among India's top four banks in the private sector, boosted by its 2014 acquisition of ING Bank's Indian operations.
In January this year, the bank reached an agreement with the Reserve Bank of India over the issue of reducing Kotak's stake in the bank to 26 per cent.
Telecom tycoon Sunil Mittal is at 154th position with $9.5 billion net worth. Bharti Airtel today is among India's largest mobile phone operators with more than 418 million customers.
Others in the latest list are Cyrus Poonawalla who is founder of Serum Institute of India (at 161th position with $9.2 billion net worth), Gautam Adani at 162th position with $9.2 billion net worth and steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal with $8.9 billion net worth at 170th spot, among others.
(IANS)