Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani and Adani Group founder Gautam Adani are facing multiple threats that are hitting their businesses – and their immense personal wealth. Both Ambani and Adani have tumbled out of the elite centibillionaires club – people with fortunes above $100 billion.
Ambani’s energy and retail businesses have been underperforming amid rising investor concern about debt, while Adani’s empire was rocked by a US Department of Justice probe that threatens to squeeze funding and make it harder to win contracts. And it’s still not clear if the worst is over for either.
For Adani, the move by US prosecutors in Nov over alleged bribery was an unwelcome return to the international media spotlight. He’s been fighting to shore up investor confidence after short seller Hindenburg last year published a report accusing the firm of fraudulent practices.
Adani, who has denied both charges, has vowed to fight on. Adani’s fortune peaked at $122 billion in June after he worked to bolster finances following Hindenburg’s attack. Those gains have now evaporated after the US allegations that he oversaw bribes to Indian govt officials, and he’s now worth $82 billion (see graphic).
The wealth of Ambani, Asia’s richest man, has also taken a tumble, if perhaps in a less dramatic and public way. It peaked at about $121 billion in July, right at the time the opulent family wedding was in full swing. His flagship Reliance conglomerate has struggled with weakening earnings at the energy business to flagging consumer demand at the retail division. His fortune stands at $97 billion.