New Delhi: Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani's net worth has surged to new highs. Aside from being the richest Indian and Asian, Mukesh Ambani is now also part of the exclusive club of the world's top 10 richest people. As per Bloomberg Billionaire's Index, Ambani's net worth has jumped to $64.5 billion making him the ninth richest person globally. Ambani is the only Asian tycoon in the top 10.

He overtook Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp. and France's Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the wealthiest woman, to reach the number nine spot. Ambani's net worth at the moment is Rs 4.9 lakh crore. It is worth noting that he has added almost $28 billion (Rs 2.13 lakh crore) to his fortune in just four months.

Mukesh Ambani net worth:

Ambani's net worth of Rs 4.9 lakh crore is higher than the combined net worth of India's next four billionaires - Azim Premji ($16 billion), Shiv Nadar ($15 billion), Gautam Adani ($12.8 billion), Radhakishan Damani ($12.2 billion). Ambani, who owns 42 per cent of Reliance, has benefited from a flurry of investment into the company's digital unit, Jio Platforms Ltd.

RIL has raised Rs 1.75 trillion against its net debt of Rs 1.61 trillion, through a 24.71% stake sale of equity of Jio Platforms to 11 investors, a rights issue and stake sale to UK-based multinational oil and gas giant BP. At its Friday closing price, RIL became the first Indian company to have a market capitalisation of more than $150 billion.

Jio stake sale:

Ambani sold nearly half a quarter stake of Jio Platforms to Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, ADIA, TPG, L Catterton and PIF, and raised Rs 115,693.95 crore. The company said PIF’s investment marks the end of Jio Platforms’ current phase of the stake sale.

Note that with these flurry of investments, Ambani's net worth has surged in the last few weeks. In fact, the billionaire has made more than what he lost during the lockdown. RIL has added Rs 1.75 trillion to its market capitalisation in the last six months. The company recently declared itself net debt-free, nine months before the actual deadline of Ambani's promise of becoming one.

World's richest club:

Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos leads the list of world's billionaires with a net worth of $160.1 billion. He's followed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates ($108.6 billion), LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault ($102.8 billion), Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ($87.9 billion), Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett ($71.4 billion), Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer ($70.5 billion), Google co-founder Larry Page and Sergey Brin ($68.1 billion and $66 billion).

-timesnownews.com