Indian billionaire regained the richest man in Asia from Jack Ma

Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani once again usurped Jack Ma's richest man in Asia after a deal with Facebook.

Asia's number one billionaire Mukesh Ambani. Photo: Bloomberg.
On April 22, billionaire Ambani's fortune increased $ 4.7 billion to $ 49.2 billion after Reliance Industries' stock jumped 10%. This boost helped the billionaire's fortune be about $ 3.2 billion higher than what Jack Ma owned, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

On April 21, Facebook announced that it would buy back 9.9% of the businessman Jio Platforms of Ambani for $ 5.7 billion. With the deal, Facebook will have access to Jio's 370 million registered customers.

From the beginning of the year to April 22, the fortune of Mr. Ambani - the billionaire who owns the largest refinery in the world - dropped by $ 14 billion, according to a Bloomberg survey. Meanwhile, Jack Ma - founder of e-commerce giant - lost nearly 1 billion USD.

With half a billion people using the Internet, India is a key market for the world's largest technology companies, including Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google. In India, Facebook has about 250 million users, while WhatsApp has up to 400 million users.

"The deal shows the influence of Ambani entrepreneur. If you want to play big in technology field in India, you need a good relationship with Mukesh Ambani," said James Crabtree, author of The Billionaire Raj, comment. Comment.