09 October 2007

Mukesh and Anil Ambani combined become world's richest

NEW DELHI: The Indian stock market boom has made the Ambani brothers arguably the richest in the world if one clubs the fortunes of Mukesh and Anil, which at $ 91.41 billion is far ahead of even the Walton family of Wal-Mart. Sons of legendary industrialist Dhirbuhai Ambani who started his career as a petrol station attendant in Yemen and later founded Reliance Industries, Mukesh and Anil split the business empire between them in June 2005 - then worth. While Mukesh controls shares worth USD 55.81 billion, Anil owns shares worth USD 35.6 billion in their respective groups, and their combined worth stands at just over USD 170 billion. '

The wealth of the two brothers as also their group companies are based on the information available on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the closing price of the group companies on Tuesday. The net worth of the Walton family, which controls nearly 39 per cent in Wal-Mart, is around USD 72 billion based on the market capitalisation of the retailer, which is USD 184.21 billion. In June 2005, when the Reliance empire was split its market valuation stood at a little over Rs 1,10,000 crore which has since shot up to over Rs 6,00,000 crore.

In March, Forbes magazine had ranked Mukesh and Anil Ambani as the 14th and 18th richest persons in the world. Their combined wealth then stood at USD 38.3 billion, just a little over the USD 32 billion wealth of steel baron Lakshmi Mittal (fifth richest). After today's surge in the stock market, which saw the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex crossing the 18,000-point milestone with a gain of 789 points, the wealth of the five richest resident Indians too has soared.

The collective wealth of the top five richest Mukesh, Anil, DLF's K P Singh, Bharti Group's Sunil Bharti Mittal and Wipro chief Azim Premji has risen by over USD 28 billion to USD 164.01 billion in less than 20 days. The total market cap of firms listed on the BSE on Tuesday soared to Rs 54,85,247.44 crore, data available with the exchange shows. The market cap stood at about Rs 51,19,729 crore on September 26, when the Sensex hit the 17,000 mark.



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