Who The Hell is Lakshmi Mittal?

So I am taking a look at the list of the Forbes Riches people and you have your standards in there: Gates, Buffett, the IKEA guy (you don't have to be rich, just smart, easy for him to say), Paul Allen, Ellison and then there is a new #3 richest person in the world: Lakshmi Mittal. Who the hell is that? Turns out he is an Indian steel mogul. Indian steel mogul, what the fuck? I thought the rich people in India were all computer IT dudes. And aren't steel moguls so 19th century?

How did his net worth quadruple going from $6.2 bil to $25 billion in one year? Who is this guy? Turns out Forbes did a little profile on him as well. A big steel merger, more transparency in his company and rising steel prices led to the vast increase. He is living in London, apparently kicking it Russian oligarch style.

His company Mittal had $4 billion in profits last year yet only has a market cap of $25 bil. That PE of 5.3 seems awful low and could go to 10 or 15, especially with another merger or two. That would make Lakshmi the richest man in the world. Lakshmi owns 95% of Mittal which only gives the stock a 5% float. That is a crazy low float, that I would think could lead to big fluctuations but with $1 bil in float maybe that isn't as big of deal as it was with dotcoms.

Anyway, with steel company consolidation occurring and rising demand from China, I think that we are going to be hearing more about Lakshmi occurring in the future.

via NewsFactor Fort Wayne Journal Gazette