Bill Gates' $20 bn donation puts Adani on 4th position in Forbes' world richest list

New Delhi, July 19: After Bill Gates announced that he would donate $20 billion of his wealth to his non-profit - Bill & Melinda Gates, Gautam Adani has moved up one spot in Forbes' Real-Time billionaire rankings.

The billionaire claimed that he plans to give away all of his wealth gradually to the foundation, that he had co-founded with his former wife. "My giving this money is not a sacrifice at all. I feel privileged to be involved in tackling these great challenges, I enjoy the work, and I believe I have an obligation to return my resources to society in ways that have the greatest impact for improving lives. I hope others in positions of great wealth and privilege will step up in this moment too," he wrote in his blog.

Going by the real-time Forbes data, Gates now has a net worth of around $102 billion. Whereas Adani's net worth is estimated to be at $114.4 billion.

The list is topped by Elon Musk ($230.8B), Bernard Arnault & family ($149.8B) and Jeff Bezos ($139.5B).

Adani is a first-generation entrepreneur who turned a small agri-trading firm into a conglomerate spanning coal trading and mining, ports and airports, power generation, gas distribution, green energy, data centre and cement.

It has to be noted that Adani and his family pledged to donate Rs 60,000 crore to charity to mark his 60th birthday, last month. Donations to be utilized in healthcare, education, and skill development, his logistics-to-energy conglomerate said in a statement.

The donation will be managed by the Adani Foundation.

"On the year of the centenary birth anniversary of Gautam Adani's father Shantilal Adani, and Gautam Adani's own 60th birthday, the Adani Family has committed a donation of Rs 60,000 crore to a range of social causes," the statement said.

This is one of the largest charitable donations in Indian corporate history and joins the ranks of global billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffett. Wipro's Azim Premji and mining mogul Anil Agarwal have committed a large part of their wealth to philanthropy.