Adani Faces One of Worst Billionaire Wipeouts as Empire Attacked

Gautam Adani had appeared to weather the biggest broadside yet to his sprawling empire, heading into a holiday in India as the world’s fourth-richest person and dismissing a short-seller report as “stale” and “baseless.”

Then Indian markets reopened Friday and it quickly became apparent that Hindenburg Research, a tiny New York firm, had pierced the defenses of the mighty Adani Group, a corporate giant half a world away.

Bonds and shares of the various Adani entities fell. Then fell some more. In the end, units like Adani Green Energy and Adani Total Gas plunged by the daily 20% limit, delivering punishing losses after years of world-beating gains.

In just ...