Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has seen his wealth tumble in 2023 on the heels of a short report from Hindenburg Research.
Here’s a look at his current wealth and how his loss compares to several other notable billionaires in recent history.
What Happened: Short seller Hindenburg Research put out a research report that accused Gautam Adani of a “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme.” The report said the fraud had been ongoing for decades and contributed to Adani’s recent surge in wealth.
Adani’s wealth of $120 billion saw around $100 billion added in the last three years, the report highlighted. The report said the rise in value was largely due to stock price appreciation from seven listed companies from the Adani Group conglomerate. Shares are up an average of 819% over the time period.
“Its 7 key listed companies have 85% downside purely on a fundamental basis owing to sky-high valuations,” Hindenburg Research said.
The research report cited interviews with former executives of the Adani Group and reviewing documents.
Adani Group firms had also taken on significant debt, using shares of stock for loans, according to the report.
Following the short report, the Adani Group’s flagship company Adani Enterprises called off a planned $2.5 billion share sale. The company cited protecting the interest of investors and said the company’s balance sheet is healthy.
Investor Bill Ackman, who praised the short report from Hindenburg Research, said he would not be surprised if the planned offering was “rigged with affiliate buyers.”
Adani began 2023 with a wealth of $120.5 billion, ranking him in the top five wealthiest billionaires.
Since the short report came out and shares of several Adani-linked companies have fallen, Adani now ranked as the 21st richest person in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a wealth of $61.3 billion. This represented a year-to-date loss of $59.2 billion, or nearly half of his 2022 wealth.
Related Link: Adani Isn't The First — Elon Musk's Twitter, Nikola And A Crypto Company Have Been Short-Selling Targets For Hindenburg Before
How It Compares: The fall in the prices of many publicly traded companies in 2022 hurt the wealth of the top 10 billionaires.
Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk ended 2022 worth $137.5 billion. Musk set a Guinness World Record for the worst loss of fortune in history. The record listed a loss of $182 billion, with some reports saying Musk was down closer to $200 billion. At his peak in November 2021, Musk was worth $340 billion. Musk broke a previous record of a loss of $58.6 billion set by Softbank Group Corp CEO Masayoshi Son.
Musk lost over half of his wealth in 2022, which came with the share price of Tesla down 65% on the year.
A rebound in Tesla shares, which were up over 70% year-to-date in 2023, had Musk up $36.5 billion year-to-date now valued at $174 billion, ranking second on the list.
Musk downplayed the stock performance of Tesla in 2022 with a memo to employees.
“Don’t be too bothered by stock market craziness. As we demonstrate continued excellent performance, the market will recognize that,” Musk said.
Another big loss of wealth was recognized in 2022 by Meta Platforms Inc META co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg started 2022 worth $125 billion. After weak quarterly earnings by Meta Platforms in February 2022, Zuckerberg saw his wealth fall significantly. A drop of $31 billion in one day marked one of the largest one-day drops by dollar value ever seen.
Zuckerberg ended 2022 valued at $45.7 billion, losing around $80 billion in wealth. The Meta Platforms CEO is now ranked 13th on the billionaires' list valued at $69.8 billion, up $24.1 billion year-to-date.
Another big loss for a billionaire happened in 2022 with the bankruptcy and collapse of FTX. Co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried had $16 billion of wealth wiped out in mere days. The index ranked Bankman-Fried as the 95th richest person in the world before taking him to wealth levels of $1 billion and then $0, removing him from the list.
In one day, Bankman-Fried lost 94% of his wealth, marking the largest one-day drop (by percent) in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. At his peak, Bankman-Fried was worth $26 billion.
Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao also saw a significant loss in 2022 with the price of Bitcoin BTC/USD falling and the bankruptcies of several cryptocurrency-related companies.
Zhao had a wealth of $89 billion in January 2022. Throughout the year, the value dropped and Zhao ended 2022 worth $12.6 billion. This marked a loss of over $76 billion.
Zhao is now valued at $31.2 billion, ranking as the 41st richest person in the world.
While Adani’s drop in wealth in 2023 is significant, it trailed the 2022 losses seen by Musk and several others. Adani lost 49.1% of his wealth year-to-date. Taking Adani’s wealth to $0 would still keep Musk’s Guinness World Record firmly in place.
The five richest people at the time of writing are as follows with year-to-date gains:
1. Bernard Arnault: $193 billion, +$30.7 billion
2. Elon Musk: $174 billion, +$36.5 billion
3. Jeff Bezos: $136 billion, +$29.3 billion
4. Bill Gates: $115 billion, +$5.35 billion
5. Warren Buffett: $108 billion, +$1 billion
Read Next: Here's How Much Tesla Stock Elon Musk Owns After Latest Sale
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Photos: Adani: Wikimedia Creative Commons; Musk: U.S. Air Force, Public Domain; Zuckerberg: Shutterstock; SBF: Cointelegraph via Wikimedia Creative Commons
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