Success Story of Mukesh Ambani | Jio | Reliance Industries Owner

Have you ever wondered how one can become a billionaire starting from just a 2- bedroom apartment??

Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani, famously known as the business magnate and tycoon,  is the Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries LTD. He is a billionaire of Indian origin and the largest shareholder of Reliance, which has the highest market value in India, making him one of the most valuable personality figures in India. As per the Forbes real-time billionaires list, Mukesh Ambani stands at 10th position in the richest billionaires of the world list, with a net worth of $93.4 billion (as of June 2022).   

Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani are the two Indian figures to have their names listed in the top 10 richest billionaires list. Let’s take a look at the success story of Mukesh Ambani, an Indian billionaire everyone looks up to.

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Background

Mukesh Ambani is the son of Dhirubhai Ambani (who was a famous business leader) and Kokilaben Ambani. He was born on 19 April 1957 in the  British Crown colony of Aden now known as Yemen. They are four siblings, including his younger brother Anil Ambani and his two sisters, Nina Bhadrashyam Kothari and Dipti Dattaraj Salgaocar. 

Early life

The widespread business of the Ambani family was initiated by Dhirubhai Ambani when he decided to move back to India in 1958 due to instability in the political environment of Yemen, shortly after the birth of Mukesh Ambani. Dhirubhai Ambani started a trading business focused on spices and textiles. He named his company “Vimal” initially. Later, the company’s name was changed to “Only Vimal”.

Ambanis were economically uplifted slightly when they moved back to India. However, all they could afford was a two-bedroom apartment in Bhuleshwar, Mumbai, and a simple lifestyle until the 1970s. Mukesh Ambani used public transportation for commute and was never given any allowance. Dhirubhai Ambani with his cousin started the Reliance commercial corporation. As their business took a turn, Dhirubhai purchased a 14-floor apartment block called ‘Sea Wind’ in Colaba. This was the home of Both Ambani brothers, where they settled on different floors until recently. Nevertheless, Ambani has always kept his family close as a source of support and positivity.

Education

Ambani pursued his Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Mumbai, formerly known as the University of Bombay. Later, he pursued a degree in Master’s in Business administration from a recognized university, Stanford. 

Later in 1980, he dropped out of college to carry forward the family business, which was still small but growing at that time. His father promoted real-life experiences rather than classroom education. After returning to India, he was handed over the Yarn manufacturing project in the company. He worked day and night to diversify the company into vast areas. He was a significant part of establishing the world’s largest petroleum refinery at Jamnagar (Gujarat) at the basic level. This refinery had a capacity of 660,000 barrels per day (30 million tonnes per year) in 2010. The refinery, has petrochemical, power generation, port, and related infrastructure. It was built with an investment of about Rs 100000 crore,

The Reliance industries in no time has become a widespread network, distributed in areas like communications, petroleum refining, infrastructure, petrochemicals, gas, oil, and polyester fibres production. His brilliant ideas lead his company to heights. In 2004, Ambani was honoured as one of the world’s most respected leaders and business tycoons by the professional-services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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Family

Ambani was married to Nita Ambani in 1985. They were blessed with two sons– Anant Ambani and Akash Ambani and a daughter– Isha Ambani. The marriage was arranged by Dhirubhai Ambani after he attended a dance performance where Nita participated. 

The family currently stays in a 27-story private apartment– Antilia with a worth $1 bn USD. With 600 staff members for its maintenance, three helipads, a 160-car garage, a private movie theatre, a swimming pool, and a fitness center, this building is a city of its own. Ambani does believe in living a lavish lifestyle.

PC: The Economic Times

What were Ambani’s family disputes?

After the sad demise of Dhirubhai Ambani in 2002, tension stirred up in the family as he left no will. The Reliance companies were handed over to Mukesh and Anil Ambani in joint leadership. The company kept booming. However, there were many feuds raging between the two brothers, leading their mother Kokilaben Ambani to divide the assets of Reliance between her sons via a noncompetition agreement in 2006- 2010. According to this agreement, Mukesh Ambani got hold of the unit concerning gas, oil, and petrochemicals in the RIL under the broad umbrella of Reliance Group.

The feuds didn’t stop the growth of the Reliance Group. 

Ambani is credited for creating the world’s largest petroleum refinery start-up. He is also acknowledged for his work in spearheading various creations of state of the art manufacturing facilities. His keen work and undivided focus lead to increased RIL’s production capabilities. 

PC: Mint

How did Mukesh Ambani 

When Ambani returned to India, he started running Reliance industries with his father. As the company was already growing at a fast pace, an expanded part of industries known as Reliance Retail Ltd. which deals with telecommunications and other retail services became the largest retailer in India. Reliance named their telecommunications as Jio. It was just a matter of time, Jio entered the spot of top-five telecommunication services in India after it was launched on 5 September 2016.

“All of us, in a sense, struggle continuously all the time because we never get what we want. The important thing which I’ve learned is how you do not give up because you never succeed in the first attempt.” Mukesh Ambani

Net Worth of Mukesh Ambani

The Chairperson of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani’s net worth is $102.9 Billion. Most of his income comes from the Oil and Gas business, but after the launch of Jio, Ambani’s net worth has witnessed a huge surge.

Mukesh Ambani, who was no longer the richest man of Asia, has regained his spot as the Asia’s richest man, surpassing the Chairperson of Adani Group, Gautam Adani.

A surge in the shares of Reliance Industries has led to the increase in Mukesh Ambani’s fortune. Reliance’s shares have surged by over 16 per cent so far in 2022.

Achievements

• Reliance Industries LTD. got an investment of $15 billion from digital business deals and recently, Google has also agreed to buy a $4.5 billion stake in Jio.
• On April 22, Facebook announced it’s an investment of Rs 43,574 crore in an all-cash deal with Jio Platforms for a 9.99% stake.
• Ambani was ranked by China’s Hurun Research Institute as India’s fifth philanthropist. 
• He was the first Non-American to become a member of the board of Bank of America when he was appointed as a Director. 
• He is the owner of the Indian premier league Franchise Mumbai Indian. The ownership is via Reliance. 
• He is the Founder of the Indian Super League which is a football league in India. 
• As of 2020, Ambani is ranked by Forbes as the second richest sports owner in the world.
• He owns Antilia Building with a value reaching $1 billion, one of the world’s most expensive private residences.
• He was honoured as the Co-chair of the India Economic Summit of The World Economic Forum (WEF). WEF is a famous organization with some very powerful businessmen, politicians, policymakers, scholars, trade unionists, and non-government organization representatives as its members.
• In 2007, Ambani became India’s first rupee trillionaire.

PC: Business Insider India

Are there any awards presented to Ambani?

Ambani has been honoured with numerous awards in his lifetime. 

1. ‘Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ by Ernst & Young India, 2002. 
2. ‘Global Vision Award at The Awards Dinner’ by Asia Society, 2010.
3. ‘Business Leader of the Year’ by NDTV India, 2010.
4. ‘Businessman of the Year’ by Financial Chronicle, 2010.
5. ‘School of Engineering and Applied Science Dean’s Medal’ by the University of Pennsylvania, 2010.
6. ‘5th-best performing global CEO’ by Harvard Business Review, 2010.
7. ‘Global Leadership Award’ from the Business Council for International Understanding, 2010.
8. ‘Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Science)’ by M. S. University of Baroda, 2010.
9. ‘Millennium Business Leader of the Decade’ at India Leadership Conclave & Indian Affairs Business Leadership Awards, 2013.
10. ‘Foreign associate, U.S. National Academy of Engineering’ by the National Academy of Engineering, 2016.
11. ‘Othmer Gold Medal’ from Chemical Heritage Foundation, 2016.
12. Business Leader award for corporate excellence by Economic Times, 2017.
13. Iconic Business Leader of the Decade at the Indian Business Leader Awards (IBLA), 2020.

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Did Ambani face any struggles in his career?

 Ambani has faced allegations of malpractice in his business career. He dealt with a lot of competitions such as Tatas and Birla. Nevertheless, his success in business continued to stay on an rise. One major setback struck Mukesh Ambani when the NDA government slammed a fine of $579 million on the Reliance Petroleum Industry. That was not all, Arwind Kejriwal, the leader of the Aam Admi Party accused him of interfering in the work of the government. Mukesh Ambani dealt with all the acquisitions without hampering his company’s progress and growth. 

What is his recent successful deal?

Mukesh is always open to new ideas, looking out for new ventures and opportunities. 

Ambani’s most recent success echoes in the name of Reliance Jio. Many experts believe Jio was an aggressive decision taken by Ambani, with approximately a minimum thought process. He brought the 4G services to a minimal price in India. Mukesh Ambani believes this decision was his confident decision, not a rash choice, and as we experience it first-hand what a success! It definitely paid off in loads. 

The launch was record-breaking. The Echoes of it were heard everywhere. Reliance Jio registered 16M subscribers within one month of the launch. The numbers kept increasing afterwards.

PC: Swarajya

• Jio, Google, and Facebook: Recently, Jio tied up with Qualcomm and Google, top tier companies in the digital market. The aim of this tie-up is to create a new smartphone running heads-on with the Chinese brands that currently rule the Indian cellphone market such as Vivo, Oppo, and Xiaomi. He is also working on the new 5G technologies. 

 

• In the recent past, Facebook invested Rs 43,574 crore in Jio for a stake of 9.99%  in an all-cash deal. This deal is a major boost to help the oil-to-retail conglomerate by increasing the company’s image on social media, giving it a super boost, and reducing the debt faced by Reliance. With this speedy growth, he is determined to beat other countries to stay at the top place in the future. 

 

• Out of 10 global entities that are buying a stake in Jio Platforms of a total of 24.70% for Rs 1.16 lakh crore, Facebook is a major contributor. The investments by global entities along with the rights issue 53,124 crore investment are a major push in the aim of making RIL debt-free.

 

• The other nine investments come from popular sources like Abu Dhabi’s two largest sovereign investment arms, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Mubadala. They also include some private equity firms such as Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, TPG, L Catterton, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

With Mukesh Ambani’s strong visionary leadership and strategic businesses, he is leading the country on his shoulders. As the new year arrives, so do the gains in Ambani’s assets.

It is strongly expected that this shift of Reliance industries towards e-commerce will pave a new way towards indefinite success. The shareholders of the industry will hike. Reliance Retail Industry is the largest chain in India and will grow even bigger with the help of digitization. 

Conclusion

Ambani inherited the business from his legendary father and became an absolute example of creating his own empire. The success of his business never halted or paused, he kept developing better strategies to stay on the top. He is a living example of power, dedication, hard work, and success. A role model for many emerging entrepreneurs, he is the man behind taking a small business to renowned heights. Now, he is widely recognized and respected in the world – Mukesh Ambani – A true inspiration.

 

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