Indian Billionaire Outperforming Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos This Year Takes Zero Salary Home

Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, whose net worth has outperformed peers like Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk and Amazon.com Inc AMZN founder Jeff Bezos this year, took 'nil' salary home for a second consecutive year in the financial year 2021-22.

What Happened: According to the latest annual report of Reliance Industries, CEO Ambani drew 'nil' in remuneration for the latest financial year. He voluntarily gave up remuneration because of the pandemic hitting the business and economy.

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According to the company, in both these years, he did not avail of any allowances, perquisites, retiral benefits, commission, or stock options for his role as the chairman and managing director.

"In light of the COVID-19 outbreak in India, which has exacted a huge toll on the societal, economic, and industrial health of the nation, Mukesh D Ambani, the Chairman, and Managing Director, has voluntarily decided to forego his salary," the company said.

Before this, Ambani's annual salary was INR 150 million ($1.8 million). In 2009, he capped his salary at INR 150 million to set "a personal example for moderation in managerial compensation levels."

Ambani is currently perched at the number eleven slot in the world's richest list with a net worth of $91.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The data showed that in the list of the top 15 world billionaires, Ambani, his Indian peer Gautam Adani of Adani Group, and Koch Industries' Charles Koch were the only three that have piled on their wealth in 2022 amid the downturn in the global economy.

While Ambani has gained $1.23 billion this year, Adani is leading the pack with $48.8 billion. At the same time, Musk has lost $15.2 billion, Bezos has lost $29.1 billion, and Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) CEO Warren Buffett's net worth has fallen by $7.11 billion.

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Photo: Courtesy of World Economic Forum via Flickr