Reliance Industries Chairperson Mukesh Ambani on Thursday reclaimed the “Asia’s richest person” title from Alibaba’s Jack Ma after social-networking giant Facebook announced a deal to buy about 10% stake in Jio Platforms, the daily update of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index showed.

Ambani had lost the title to Ma last month after a steep fall in oil prices and global stocks due to the coronavirus pandemic reduced his net worth by $5.8 billion. The Bloomberg index of the world’s richest people, which is updated after the end of trading hours in the United States daily, had placed Ma at the 18th spot globally, while Ambani, with a net worth of $41.8 billion, had ranked 19th.

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After the announcement of the mega deal with Facebook, Ambani’s fortune rose about $4.7 billion to $49.2 billion on Wednesday. With the jump in his net worth, Ambani is now about $3.2 billion ahead of Ma, according to the Bloomberg index.

According to the Hurun Special Report on “Wealth Impact Two Months after COVID-19 Outbreak”, released earlier this month, Ambani’s global ranking in the rich list slipped eight places to the 17th spot. His net worth had dropped 28% or $19 billion to $48 billion.

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  2. Facebook buys minority stake of $5.7 billion in Reliance Jio platforms

On Wednesday, Facebook had announced that it has bought a 9.99% stake in Reliance-owned Jio Platforms for $5.7 billion, or Rs 43,574 crore, as the social media company looks to expand its presence in its largest market in terms of subscriber base. Facebook’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg had said the investment deal will help people and businesses in India create new opportunities amid the countrywide lockdown to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. Ambani had said the partnership was based on a commitment to create “all-round digital transformation of India”.

The stocks of Reliance Industries Limited had gained over 9.83% to Rs 1,359 on the NSE on Wednesday. On Thursday, the share prices went up by 0.48% to Rs 1,370.15.