Gautam Adani beats world’s richest Elon Musk & Jeff Bezos

While we pondered over how to kill time, a few among us got better and richer. Have you guessed the personality I am speaking of? Yes, it's Gautam Adani. 

Covid did affect us in different ways, both good and bad. While half the population is wondering how to come over the losses sustained, the other half have almost doubled the wealth they had. Gautam Adani, who forms part of the later, has, despite the pandemic, overtook the wealthiest people of the world to become the 'Top gainer of the year'. 

Along with the details of the news, which is quickly filling everyone's newsfeed, we have a bunch of 'lesser-known and juicy facts' just for you! So quickly buckle up and read further to catch up on them. 

Race against Bezos or Musk 

Opportunities are there so that they can be seized. And Adani seems to be just the man to do it. Adani has been on a spree of expanding his conglomerate, which, in no time, put him on the list of one of the fastest-growing billionaires. Also, its diversified expansion has been welcomed by the investors adding about $16.2 billion to his net worth. 

Adani green has planned to achieve a 25 gigawatts' expansion plan by 2025, getting its renewable energy production to increase by 5 times of its current capacity. Along with that, the Adani group of enterprises has made a pact towards the construction of 1-gigawatt data centre capacity in India.

If you are thinking that's all the company has on its agenda, you are wrong. The company is offering a serious completion by acquiring and bringing some major airports and seaports under its wings. It also has signed major deals in France and Australia. 

The Adani Group, when notified of the opportunity prevailing in the airline sector, soon jumped on board. It bagged a 50-year contract on the maintenance, management, control and development of airports in places such as Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangalore. It won the deal after making an offer of Rs 115 -117 per passenger.

This deal will put Adani third in the list of largest private airport operators after GMR and GVK group. The six airports together handled about 30 million passengers roughly on a yearly basis. Further, the company's aim to control the stake in the Mumbai airport will help in making this plan even stronger and aid in creating strategic adjacencies. 

Now you might be wondering where the funds for all these plans come from? The Adani group of companies have been getting in touch with about 12 global banking enterprises in order to receive funds to finance its expansion plans and development projects. 

All these plans not only put the company's name constantly on the headlines of the news but also made Gautam Adani's worth hit a stunning $50 billion. This was sufficient enough to help him beat two of his competitors, Elon Musk and Bezos, and emerge victorious as the top wealth creator across nations for the year 2021. He was said to have added a humongous amount of wealth to his portfolio than any other businessman as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

This great climb made by him along with his development plans put enormous confidence among the investors and made three out of his six listed stocks see phenomenal gains. They together made a mind-boggling 80% return despite the pandemic lows and individually crossed the 100 mark.

Unknown facts about Gautam Adani  

The various strategic plans and business on the radar might have already left you awe-struck. But we have something more for you. Below are some of the facts which you had probably, no idea about. Read on to find out. 

• Who told you that you must have the brain of an IITian or should have gone to famous b-schools of the world to become successful? Adani proved it all wrong. Being the first generation billionaire himself, Adani bid goodbye to schooling in order to set his feet into the world of business. He dropped out while pursuing education at CN Vidyalaya, which is located in Ahmedabad. He was reportedly pursuing commerce at that time. 

• He learned the tricks, nukes and corners of the Diamond trade within a period of 3 years. Following which, he made his 1st million whilst he was just 20 years old. He is a self-made billionaire and a wonderful negotiator. 

• A lot of events and incidents might have happened. But a handful of them are too hard to let go of. One among them is the 26/11 attack. And Mr. Adani was one of the survivors of the 26/11 attack. As per reports, he was having dinner at the iconic Taj hotel while the terrorists took over the building. 

• The Kingdom which he built, the Adani power ltd, happens to be the largest and biggest private power producer as far as India is concerned. It produces roughly 4620 MW of energy through thermal plants. 

• Port and Rail Linkage is one of the phenomenal plans. If you are searching for the person behind that? Then you have found him; Mr Adani somehow convinced the then Railway Minister Nitish Kumar and laid the road for the project to see the light of the day. 

Final thoughts

The year 2021 was not a bad start for the company, as it was the case for many. After all, it could not get a better jump start. We will have to wait to find out what else they have in the store for us.

Of course, these mature businessmen can leverage their experience to grow their business to great heights. However, what's more, important is that we need to encourage start-ups with innovative business ideas. And who'd be better in this than a billionaire like Gautam Adani?