Jack Ma Reclaims Asia’s Richest Title After Oil Prices Collapsed

Alibaba founder Jack Ma is back on the top list of Asias Richest Man after energy tycoon Mukesh Ambani lose $5.6 billion due to oil price drop on Monday, March 9.

Ambani dethroned Ma two years ago, as the Indian billionaire saw a huge growth in Reliance Industries Ltd., Indias most valuable company. That time, Ambani had an estimated net worth of $44.3 billion, a close fight to Mas fortune of $44 billion. In 2019, the Indian businessman added approximately $17 billion to his wealth, closing at $58 in December.

Now, Jack Ma is back on top as Ambani loses $5.6 billion in a single day. This is all because of the novel coronavirus (NCOV-19) fears that hit the oil stocks and affected the global markets. The huge loss came from the 31 percent drop in the crude oil price, as Saudi Arabia went to a price war with Russia. Additionally, the virus outbreak also caused several flight cancellations, which weakened the oil demand.

Jack Ma Reclaims Asia’s Richest Title

According to Forbes, Ambanis net worth was down for 11.6 percent since Friday, March 6, 2020. He was the second-biggest stock loser after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg loses $4.1 billion last Monday. According to Forbes, the worlds richest people lost a combined amount of $18.8 billion in the past week.

The lower market consumption has led to a decline in the stocks, as more people stopped spending on travel, retail, and entertainment. Aside from the two billionaires, added to the stock losers of the week are Oracle’s CEO, Larry Ellison, losing $2.2 billion; Googles Sergey Brin who lost $1.6 billion, and Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s Sheldon Adelson who lost $1.5 billion.

Jack Ma has a fortune of $44.5 billion, a $2.6 billion ahead of Ambani after the massive oil price drop. While Alibabas businesses are also affected by the NCOV-19, their cloud computing services and mobile apps are in demand.