Mukesh Ambani regains his spot as Asia's richest person

Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani has regained his spot as Asia's richest person after Gautam Adani slipped to number 2 with his net worth tumbling to $47.2 billion. With a net worth of $83.4 billion, Ambani ranks number 9 on the world billionaire list.

Adani was the world's third-richest person on January 24, when he was worth nearly $126 billion. A report issued by US short-seller Hindenburg Research later that day, however, sent his companies' shares plummeting, Forbes said.

"Last year, Ambani's oil-to-telecom behemoth Reliance Industries became the first Indian company to surpass $100 billion in revenue," Forbes said.

Sidestepping speculation about succession, Ambani gave his children key roles last year: Older son Akash is the chairman of telecom arm Jio Infocomm; daughter Isha is the head of the retail business; and younger son Anant works in Reliance's new energy ventures.

The world’s 25 richest people are worth a cumulative $2.1 trillion, down $200 billion from $2.3 trillion in 2022.

"Two-thirds of the top 25 are poorer than they were last year, compared to around half of the list overall," Forbes said.

No one lost more than Jeff Bezos as Amazon shares crashed by 38 per cent. The drop lopped $57 billion from Bezos' fortune and knocked him from No. 2 in the world in 2022 to No. 3 this year.