RICH INDIANS LAKSHMI MITTAL

Lakshmi Mittal
$16 billion
Source: Steel
Age: 62. Married, 2 children
Residence: London

Steel baron continues to lose ground; his fortune dropped more than $3 billion since last year, $10 billion in two years, as shares of his ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, tanked due to surging costs and slumping demand in Europe. They hit a low in August when S&P downgraded the steelmaker’s rating to junk status. It has been selling non-core assets to reduce its $22 billion debt and shutting down idle plants; in May, it sold American unit Skyline Steel to Nucor for $605 million. In October it said it was closing two idle furnaces in France and two in Belgium. Expressing frustration over slow progress in his native India he’s put plans to build two steel mills which have been stalled there for years, on low priority.

Fast facts
Longtime London resident, he and his son Aditya were the torch bearers for the 2012 Olympics Torch Relay. The 377-foot-tall Mittal-funded ArcelorMittal Orbit, made largely out of recycled steel, is the UK’s tallest sculpture.

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