Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, increases his wealth by US$18 billion while Alibaba’s Jack Ma adds US$11 billion to fortune

It’s been a good year for Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani.

The Indian tycoon added almost US$18 billion to his wealth, the most in Asia, taking his net worth to US$61.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In comparison, Alibaba Group Holding founder Jack Ma’s net worth grew US$11 billion, while Jeff Bezos lost US$13.6 billion. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

The surge in Ambani’s fortune this year was fuelled by a 40 per cent jump in the shares of his Reliance Industries, a conglomerate that is pivoting more towards consumer offerings than its core oil refining and petrochemicals businesses. The gain in the stock is almost triple the gains for India’s benchmark S&P BSE Sensex index.

Investors are piling money on Reliance, betting newer businesses such as telecommunications and retail could soon unlock value. With a goal of building a local e-commerce giant to challenge the likes of Amazon.com in India, Ambani has spent almost US$50 billion – mostly debt – on a wireless carrier that has become India’s No. 1 within three years of debut.

“Mukesh Ambani changed the narrative for Reliance Industries” as a leader not just in oil and gas but also in telecom and retail, and possibly soon in e-commerce as well, said Chakri Lokapriya, chief investment officer at TCG Asset Management, which oversees US$3 billion in assets in Mumbai.

“He successfully identified, invested and executed rapidly to create this new narrative,” Lokapriya said. “We believe this can potentially double shareholder value over the next four years.”