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A media representative for Reliance declined to comment on Ambani\u2019s fortune. While a crash in oil prices caused uncertainty in a stake sale of Reliance\u2019s oil and chemicals division, in just two months Jio managed to attract some $15 billion — more than half the investment into telecom companies worldwide this year. Facebook Inc, General Atlantic, Silver Lake Partners, KKR & Co and Saudi Arabia\u2019s sovereign wealth fund are among those trying to get a slice of one of the world\u2019s fastest-growing online commerce markets.
Economic divide<\/span>
The rise of the 63-year-old as the country heads for its worst-ever recession is a reminder of the nation\u2019s deep economic divide, in which the top 10% hold more than three-quarters of the total wealth, and where most new fortune creation stays in the hands of the richest 1%.
Ambani lives in a 27-story mansion in Mumbai, known as Antilia, that has three rooftop helipads, parking for 168 cars, a 50-seat movie theater, a grand ballroom with crystal chandeliers, three floors of Babylon-inspired hanging gardens, a yoga studio, and a health spa and fitness center. <\/p>\n
A June report by Sanford C Bernstein predicted that Jio is likely to capture 48% of India\u2019s mobile subscriber market share by 2025.
In the latest potential deal slated to bolster Ambani\u2019s e-commerce ambitions, Reliance is close to acquiring stakes in some units of Future Group, which already has a partnership with Amazon.com Inc, people familiar with the matter have said.
Ambani got his start in the family\u2019s business in the early 1980s, when his father, Dhirubhai Ambani, summoned him back to India to oversee construction of a polyester mill after a year at Stanford Business School. The Ambanis began to buy up suppliers as well as petrochemical plants and oil refineries and eventually built the company into a fabrics, textiles and energy empire. Dhirubhai died of a stroke in 2002 without leaving a will, triggering a feud between Mukesh and his brother, Anil.
In a settlement brokered by their mother, the brothers split the family business. Mukesh retained control over the refining, petrochemicals, oil and gas, and textiles operations, while Anil took the telecommunications, asset-management, entertainment and power-generation businesses.
In 2013, the brothers announced a $220 million pact to share a fiber-optic network, their first deal since splitting the Reliance empire. Parts of Anil\u2019s operations have since struggled, with a unit of his Reliance Communications Ltd filing for bankruptcy last year.
Mukesh revels in being the biggest. In India, Reliance officially became just that last year, when it surpassed state-owned Indian Oil Corp to become the country\u2019s largest company by revenue.
At Reliance\u2019s annual shareholder meeting in August, which is covered like a national event — including by its media and entertainment arm, Network18 — Ambani called it the \u201cgolden decade of Reliance.\u201d He celebrated the group\u2019s growing list of superlatives: the largest telecom enterprise by subscribers, revenues and profit; a retail arm larger than all other major retailers combined; an oil giant that makes India\u2019s largest export.
\u201cWe are also incubating newer growth engines,\u201d Ambani said at the time, adding that he hoped the digital-driven expansion could be more inclusive. \u201cNo power on earth can stop India from rising higher.\u201d
At least on the global wealth ranking, that seems to be the case. <\/div>\n