Mukesh Ambani Now World's 5th Richest As RIL Shares Surge Past Rs 2,000

On Wednesday, Mukesh Ambani became the fifth richest person in the world on the Forbes' rich list. On the real-time ranking by Forbes magazine, the chairman and MD of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) surpassed ace American investor Warren Buffet's net worth after his conglomerate's market cap surpassed Rs 13 lakh crore.

Ambani, who owns half of RIL's equity, now has a net worth of $75.1 billion, as per Forbes' estimate. On Wednesday, fully-paid shares of RIL closed 1.64 percent higher at Rs 2,004 apiece, while partly-paid shares ended at Rs 1,107. The market value of the fully paid shares currently stands at Rs 12.7 trillion and that of partly-paid shares is Rs 46,765, taking the total market cap to Rs 13.17 trillion.

According to the Forbes list, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is the richest in the world with a net worth of $185.8 billion. He is followed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates ($113.1 billion) luxury group LVMH's chief Bernard Arnault and his family and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.

After several promising announcements at its annual general meeting held virtually on 15 July, multiple deals from foreign investors, debt-free status and a strong growth outlook, brokerages have turned bullish on the stock.

The stock has surged over 60 percent in the last three months, largely after it signed deals with 14 foreign investors to sell over 25 percent stake in the conglomerate's digital arm Jio Platforms.

These investors have now acquired close to 33 percent stake in Jio Platforms through their investments with Facebook Inc purchasing the biggest chunk of 9.9 percent, followed by Google, that has agreed to invest Rs 33,737 crore for 7.7 percent stake.