Mukesh Ambani overtakes Zhang as Asia’s richest

Mukesh Ambani overtook ByteDance co-founder Zhang Yiming to become Asia’s richest person after Reliance Industries shares jumped nearly 12% on Monday, their biggest one-day gain since April 2020, according to Forbes’ real-time billionaires list.

Forbes put Ambani at $88.8 billion, up about $8.5 billion on the day, against Zhang’s $84 billion. Gautam Adani was next among Asians at $80.1 billion, ranked 26th in the world. Rankings differ by list. Bloomberg-based figures in September had Zhang near $105 billion, when Fortune reported he had overtaken Adani as Asia’s richest, so the title depends on which index is used.

Reliance’s rally followed its second-quarter results, released on Oct. 30. Consolidated net profit rose 40.6% to ₹25,548 crore from ₹18,165 crore a year earlier, beating expectations. The move added more than $19 billion to Reliance’s market value, taking it close to ₹17.6 lakh crore, BusinessToday reported. Analysts also pointed to refining margins near historic highs, helped by tight global supplies and Middle East disruption, according to one account.

The quarter also was the first reported since Jio Platforms listed. Jio, the digital and telecoms arm in which Reliance holds 64.5%, debuted on Oct. 28 after raising about ₹30,188 crore, India’s largest IPO, which Ambani said was more than 22 times subscribed. Its shares rose 27% on the first day, BusinessToday reported. Jio’s consolidated quarterly revenue rose 11.3% to ₹47,485 crore, and its profit rose 14%. Ambani called the listing “historic” and said Jio had become India’s second-largest company.

Reliance Industries is controlled by the Ambani family and was founded by Ambani’s father, Dhirubhai Ambani. It ranked among the top 60 companies on the Forbes Global 2000 this year, with $119.7 billion in reported sales, $229.6 billion in assets and $9.1 billion in profit.

The lead is narrow and could change on any trading day. Forbes shows a gap of about $4.8 billion between Ambani and Zhang, and Zhang’s fortune is based on estimates of ByteDance’s private valuation, so the ranking depends on both Reliance’s share price and how the list values ByteDance.

For Ambani, the week is a reversal. His son Akash fronted Jio’s IPO, and the group’s strongest quarter in some time has now restored the Asia title. Whether it holds depends on whether Reliance’s rally survives its first week after results.