Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Indian billionaire Gautam Adani surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become the world's third-richest person as of Sunday.
Adani, the founder of Adani Group, a multinational conglomerate with investments in coal mining, data centers and renewable energy, began the year at No. 14 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index but his fortune climbed to $152.1 billion.
The increase places the Indian tycoon $5.2 million ahead of Bezos, while trailing Elon Musk, whose fortune totals $273.2 billion and just behind French business magnate Bernard Arnault at 155.2 billion.
The top of Forbe's real-time billionaire rankings shuffled significantly on Friday with Adani surpassing Arnault briefly to claim the No. 2 spot before falling back to No. 3 by Friday evening.
In February, Adani over took India's Mukesh Ambani to become the richest person in Asia and then became a centibillionaire in April, placing him among the richest people in the world.
Adani, 60, entered Mumbai's diamond industry in the 1980s after dropping out of college. He then shifted his focus to coal and ports as he grew the conglomerate into its current form over the years.
His wealth has more than doubled since the beginning of the year as energy prices have swelled while Adani has invested heavily in renewable energy amid a push by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India a hub for new types of fuel.
