---
title: The billionaire closing in on Bezos
description: Gautam Adani is rapidly rising on the billionaires list. Could he be richer than Elon Musk someday?
---

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# [The billionaire closing in on Bezos](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/09122022-richest-people)

 Written by [Juliet Bennett Rylah](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/juliet-bennett-rylah) | Sep 12, 2022 11:10:59 AM

Two years ago, Gautam Adani’s net worth was [$10B](https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/personalities/news/gautam-adani-a-story-on-how-to-generate-wealth-via-hope-fomo-and-of-course-debt/articleshow/91829090.cms). Now, he’s the third-wealthiest person in the world, nearly rivaling Jeff Bezos.

**How’d he get so rich?**

Adani is the chairman and founder of [Adani Group](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adani_Group), an Indian multinational conglomerate with arms in gas, power, ports, and several other sectors.

- His many businesses often align with the priorities of India’s current administration, [drawing investor trust](https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/30/business/gautam-adani-wealth-intl-hnk/index.html) and leading to close political ties.
- Surging prices across coal, gas, and oil have helped him rise in the rankings.

Some of his firms have extremely high [price-to-earnings ratios](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/price-earningsratio.asp), [per](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-06/adani-s-rise-to-world-s-third-richest-hinges-on-lofty-valuations?sref=3Ac2yX40) *Bloomberg*. For example, Adani Green Energy Ltd. and Adani Total Gas Ltd. both have P/E ratios of ~750, while Tesla and Amazon’s are ~100.

- Critics have said Adani’s expansions have come with a lot of risk and debt, but Adani Group claims it has improved its debt over the years.

And if things continue, Adani could be looking over his shoulder at Musk.

**Meanwhile,** Bill Gates, number five on the world’s wealthiest list, has [pledged](https://www.thedailybeast.com/bill-gates-says-he-wants-to-eventually-get-off-the-list-of-the-worlds-richest-people) to eventually give everything to his charitable foundation, thus removing himself from the list entirely.

[View full post](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/09122022-richest-people)

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