Mike Adenuga Net Worth

Mike Adenuga has an estimated net worth of $6.9 billion, according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, Mike Adenuga profile (figures as of October 20, 2026). That is down from a peak of $9.2 billion.

Mike Adenuga is a Nigerian businessman who built his wealth in telecommunications and oil. He made his first million in 1979 at age 26 by selling lace and distributing soft drinks. In 1990, he received a drilling license, and in 1991 his company struck oil in shallow waters of Southwestern Ondo State. That made it the first indigenous oil company to do so in commercial quantity.

Adenuga became widely known in telecom after getting a conditional GSM license in 1999. That license was later revoked, but he secured another one in 2003 after a new government auction. He built Globacom, which also operates in Ghana and Benin. Forbes says his telecom and oil businesses remain the core of his fortune, and it values him at $6.9 billion on its real-time tracker as of October 20, 2026.

How Mike Adenuga makes money

Adenuga’s fortune comes from two main businesses: telecom and oil. Forbes says he built his wealth through telecommunications and oil production. His mobile network, Globacom, has more than 17 million subscribers. The company also built Glo-1, a 6,100-mile submarine internet cable linking to the U.K. through Ghana and Portugal. Those assets gave him a major place in Nigeria’s communications market and expanded his reach beyond voice service.

Oil is the other big part of his business empire. Forbes says Conoil Producing operates 6 oil blocks in the Niger Delta. He also owns 74% of the publicly traded gasoline firm Conoil and just under 6% of Sterling Financial Holding, a publicly traded Nigerian bank. Before those larger ventures, he funded his studies by working as a taxi driver and later earned an MBA at Pace University in New York.

Forbes net worth timeline

Forbes has marked large swings in Adenuga’s fortune over time. On the Forbes World’s Billionaires List, it estimated him at $9.2 billion in 2019, then $5.6 billion in 2020. The figure moved to $6.1 billion in 2021 and $7.3 billion in 2022. In 2023, Forbes put him back at $6.1 billion. Those changes tracked the value of a business portfolio tied to telecom, oil production, fuel marketing, and banking stakes.

The estimate continued to move in the next few years. Forbes listed Adenuga at $6.7 billion in 2024, $6.8 billion in 2025, and $6.5 billion on the 2026 World’s Billionaires List. Forbes then showed $6.9 billion on its real-time billionaires tracker in October 2026. The same basic assets stayed at the center of the estimate: Globacom, Conoil Producing, his large holding in Conoil, and his smaller bank stake.