New Delhi: India’s Mukesh Ambani has lost his crown as Asia’s richest person after the latest rout across global markets wiped almost $6 billion off his fortune.
All told, the world’s 500 richest people lost $238.5 billion on monday.
Equity and oil markets went into meltdown on what has been dubbed Black Monday as growing fears about the economic impact of COVID-19 were compounded by Saudi Arabia’s decision to slash crude prices following a row with Russia over production cuts.
Crude prices tanked by a third in their worst drop since the 1991 Gulf War.The sell-off erased $5.8 billion from 62-year-old Ambani’s net worth to leave him with a net worth of about $41.8 billion.
Ambani was overtaken by Chinese tycoon Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba whose fortune had fallen about $1.1 billion to $44.5 billion. Ma, 55, had ceded the number-one ranking in mid-2018.
The slump in oil prices raises questions about plans by Ambani’s Reliance conglomerate to cut debt as they hinge on selling a stake in its oil and petrochemicals unit to Saudi Aramco.
Ambani, whose fortune ballooned on the back of India’s telecoms boom, lives with his family in a 27-storey luxury Mumbai skyscraper reputed to have cost more than $1 billion to build.
