It’s been a good year for RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani. Asia’s richest man wealth surge around $17 billion as of December 23, taking his net worth to about $61 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
In comparison, Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma’s net worth grew $11.3 billion, while Jeff Bezos lost $13.2 billion.
The surge in Mr Ambani’s fortune this year was fueled by a 40% jump in the shares of his Reliance Industries, a conglomerate that’s pivoting more toward consumer offerings than its core oil refining and petrochemicals businesses. The rally in the stock is almost triple the gains for India’s benchmark S&P BSE Sensex index.
Investors are piling money on Reliance, betting newer businesses such as telecommunications and retail could soon unlock value. With a goal of building a local e-commerce giant to challenge the likes of Amazon.com in India, Ambani has spent almost US$50 billion — mostly debt — on a wireless carrier that’s become India’s No. 1 within three years of debut.
Mukesh Ambani has also planned to make Reliance Industries Ltd. a zero net-debt company by March 2021. Plans include a stake sale in Reliance’s oil-to-chemicals business to Saudi Arabian Oil Co., listings of the telecommunications and retail units within five years, sale of tower assets and strategic partners for a digital platform linked to Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., the phone company.
