Jeff Bezos, Mukesh Ambani rise in wealth report on coronavirus times

China-based Hurun Research's report tracks wealth changes of successful entrepreneurs in the four months ending May 31.

Amazon Inc boss Jeff Bezos, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and Dr Cyrus Poonawalla of Pune-based Serum Institute of India saw their wealth increasing during the coronavirus pandemic, says research done by a Chinese group.

Hurun Research's 'Wealth Impact 4mths after Covid-19 Outbreak' tracks the wealth changes of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs in the four months ending May 31. It is a follow-up on the 'Wealth Impact 2mths after Covid-19 Outbreak' looking into wealth changes in the two months ending 31 March 2020 and the Hurun Global Rich List 2020, which had a wealth cut-off of 31 January 2020.

As many as 60 per cent of the entrepreneurs on Hurun Global Rich List Top 100 had their wealth rise or stay the same in the four months since the outbreak. As many as 40 per cent entrepreneurs saw their wealth reducing. “Whilst the first two months of the outbreak saw a massive wealth wipeout of the Hurun Global Top 100, the second two months saw a V-shaped recovery for two-thirds of the Hurun Global Top 100, reminding us that it is dangerous to bet against the world’s best wealth creators,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher.

"The two biggest ‘winners’ from the Hurun Top 100 of Covid-19 were online retailers Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Colin Huang Zheng of Chinese low-end ‘social shopping’ giant Pinduoduo, who added Rs 1.51 trillion and Rs 1.35 trillion to their fortunes, pretty much all the gains coming in the past two months,” said Hoogewerf.

Another big winner was Eric Yuan Zheng, 50, of popular video conferencing app Zoom, who saw his wealth triple from Rs 34,000 crore in January to Rs 98,200 crore today, propelling him up from 555th in the world four months ago to knocking on the door of the world’s Top 100 today."

"Having finished the 'world’s fastest billion-dollar fundraise' in the technology sector, Mukesh Ambani gained all the wealth he lost before the Janta Curfew. India could be playing a very impactful role in fighting coronavirus through Dr Cyrus Poonawalla-run Serum Institute of India. Since the last 4 months, Dr. Poonawalla has gained almost 25 per cent to register a wealth of Rs 1.13 trillion. Foreign investors’ belief in India’s telecom potential and leadership in biotech were displayed during the 4 months post-Covid-19", said Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India.

Janta Curfew was a day-long voluntary curfew Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed Indians to underake on March 22 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Two days later, he put the country under a lockdown that lasted for more than two months and is now being eased.