On March 10, 2020, as per Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Founder Jack Ma has grabbed the title of Asia’s richest man with a net worth at $44.8 billion from Mukesh Ambani, Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of Reliance Industries. The latter’s share has dropped by $5.8 billion to $41.8 billion due to coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic which led to collapse in oil markets.
- Mukesh Ambani continues to be India’s richest man and globally he is ranked at number 19 and Jack Ma at 18th.
- On March 9, 2020, Reliance Industries faced its biggest single-day fall in at least 10 years, which hit an intra-day low of 1,096.65. RIL’s market-cap is down from ₹10-lakh crore to ₹7,36,559.49 crore.
- Amazon CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Jeff Bezos continues to be the world’s richest man even though he lost $5.6 billion.
Key Points:
i.The major reason behind this position change is the sharp decline in crude oil exploration business in international markets since 1991 due to falling demand because of the coronavirus outbreak. The oil prices dipped below $30 a barrel.
ii.It should be noted that on March 9, 2020, Global stock markets got a glimpse of the much feared ‘black swan event’, a rarely seen extreme situation which can have severe impact on the economy.
About Bloomberg Billionaires Index:
Launched in 2012, it is a daily ranking of the world’s richest people and tracks the net worth of 500 wealthiest people. The figures are updated at the close of every trading day in New York, United States (US).
