Mittal is chairman and largest shareholder of ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker. The Luxembourg-based company has mining, energy and refining operations in 60 countries and had revenue of $56.8 billion in 2016. The India-born billionaire owns several properties in London, where he now resides.
Lakshmi Mittal's net worth of $16.6B can buy ...
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The majority of Mittal's fortune is derived from his 37 percent stake in ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steel producer. Mittal paid himself a $2 billion dividend in 2004 from his family-owned LNM Holdings, which merged with publicly traded Ispat International to create Mittal Steel. He bought Richfield, Ohio-based International Steel Group in 2005, before acquiring Arcelor for $38.3 billion in 2006.
Mittal's share count in ArcelorMittal rose by 70 percent on March 18, 2016 after the billionaire purchased about 472 million shares at 2.20 euros each in a rights offering. Sophie Evans, a spokesperson for the company, confirmed the transaction in an e-mail on March 17, 2016.
Mittal has three mansions collectively worth more than $470 million on London's 'Billionaire's Row' on Kensington Palace Gardens, according to purchase records from the U.K. Land Registry. He also owns other properties in England, Scotland and India.
The billionaire has a 41 percent stake in Aperam, a Luxembourg-headquartered maker of stainless steel, and has stakes in publicly traded RattanIndia Power, Pro Global Insurance Solutions and the closely held Queens Park Rangers soccer team in London.
The value of his cash investments is based on an analysis of dividend income, insider transactions, local taxes, charitable contributions and market performance.
Lakshmi Mittal was born in Rajasthan, India, in 1950, the son of a steel producer. His parents named him Lakshmi after the Hindu goddess of wealth. He studied commerce at St. Xavier's College in Kolkata, and moved to Indonesia at age 26 to build his first steel mill, on rice paddies owned by his father.
He created Mittal Steel by combining his publicly owned Ispat International and closely held LNM Holdings in 2004, paying himself a $2 billion dividend soon after. A year later, he bought billionaire Wilbur Ross's International Steel Group for $4.7 billion.
In 2006, Mittal Steel won a five-month battle to buy Luxembourg-based Arcelor to create the world's largest steelmaker. With plants scattered across four continents and more than 20 mines in operation and development, ArcelorMittal accounted for about 5.8 percent of the global steel output in 2012. Mittal has lived in London since 1995, and owns at least $500 million in property in the U.K., including a 12-bedroom mansion in London's Kensington Palace Gardens.