World’s top 100 billionaires have recovered most of their wealth lost during the first two months of Covid outbreak in the last two months.
India’s vaccine king Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum Institute of India, saw his wealth jump by 25% to $15 billion, on the back of Covid-19 vaccine distribution potential.
Hurun, which composes a world rich list every year, has published a special report on wealth impact four months after the Covid-19 outbreak.
The four Indian billionaires who are among the world’s top 100, Mukesh Ambani saw a V-shaped recovery in his wealth. While Ambani lost $19 billion in the first two months after the Covid outbreak, he gained $18 billion (nearly Rs 1.37 lakh crore) in the last two months.
This means Mukesh Ambani added Rs 95 crore to his wealth every hour during the last two months. According to the Hurun report, Ambani is now the 8th richest person in the world.
Meanwhile, India’s vaccine king Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum Institute of India, saw his wealth jump by 25% to $15 billion, on the back of Covid-19 vaccine distribution potential. Poonawalla jumped 57 places to 86th place in the World’s top 100 billionaire ranking done by Hurun.
“Having finished the ‘world’s fastest billion-dollar fund-raise’ in the technology sector, Mukesh Ambani gained all the wealth he lost before the Janata Curfew. India could be playing a very impactful role in fighting coronavirus through Dr Cyrus Poonawalla-run Serum Institute of India.
Since last four months, Poonawalla has gained almost 25% to register a wealth of Rs 1,13,300 crore. Foreign investors’ belief in India’s telecom potential and leadership in biotech were displayed during the four months after Covid-19,” said Hurun India MD and chief researcher Anas Rahman Junaid as saying.
However, the Gautam Adani family and Shiv Nadar of HCL, the remaining two Indians in the top 100 list, saw their wealth decline by 18% and 6% respectively.
According to the Hurun report, the world’s top 100 clawed back 98% of their initial losses seen in the first two months of the outbreak.
The biggest gainer in absolute terms was Jeff Bezos of Amazon, who saw his wealth shoot up $20 billion to $160 billion. “Even after his divorce, Jeff Bezos is US$60 billion richer than Bill Gates, the biggest ever difference between the world’s top two,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, the chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report.
Warren Buffet and Bernard Arnault were the biggest losers; they lost $18 billion each followed by Carlos Slim, who lost $17 billion. In total 14 individuals lost more than $5 billion each during the last four months.
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