Mumbai: Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani Just got busy in the early stages of succession planning in its energy-to-technology group Reliance Industries Ltd. named two of its offspring as the heads of major units in its $217 billion empire.
On Tuesday, the 65-year-old tycoon paved the way for his first-born Akash Ambani to become the chairman of India’s No. 1 wireless carrier Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. Akash’s twin sister Isha, 30, is set to be appointed chairman of Reliance’s retail arm, and an announcement is expected early Wednesday, people familiar with the matter said. The company declined to comment.
While Mumbai-based Reliance has telegraphed such a leadership change, the move underscores the senior Ambani’s efforts to address family feuds that have torn apart several wealthy clans, including his own. Bloomberg News reported last year that the mogul’s preferred succession plan shares elements with Walmart Inc.’s Walton family, a framework that would allow the largest transfer of wealth in recent times.
The changes at the top come at a critical time for Reliance. In a pivot from its old refining and petrochemical business, the group is diversifying into e-commerce, green energy and expanding its retail footprint across the country. In 2020, technology venture Jio Platforms Ltd lured more than $25 billion from marquee Silicon Valley investors including Meta Platform Inc and Google. It has sold Amazon.com Inc. in the country including streaming. Ambitious plans to compete with
“It reflects a well-planned succession plan,” said Sankaran Manikutty, a former professor who teaches at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad and has worked extensively on family businesses, telecommunications and strategy in emerging economies. Business. For now, nothing will change for the group, but Mukesh Ambani will be around to guide the next generation.”
Prior to their rise, both Isha and Akash played lead roles as directors in those units. They were part of the teams that met with Meta when the California-based company Menlo Park decided to invest about $6 billion in Jio Platforms. At annual shareholders’ meetings in recent years, the twins have introduced new products and demonstrated various technology applications, such as virtual reality. His father credits his children for helping him with the internet business.
Yale University graduate
A Yale University graduate and former McKinsey & Company consultant, Isha entered Reliance’s e-commerce fashion retail in 2016 by starting online shopping portal Ajio. Like Jio Platforms, Reliance Retail Ventures also roped in several investors such as General Atlantic and KKR & Co in 2020, valuing the retailer at $62 billion at the time.
Reliance Retail runs a supermarket, India’s largest consumer electronics chain store, a cash and carry wholesaler, fast-fashion outlet and an online grocery store called JioMart. It recorded revenue of $2.6 billion for the year up to March 2022. The unit operates over 12,000 stores across the country.
Brown University alumnus
Akash, who has studied economics and is an alumnus of Brown University, will oversee a telecom operator that started in 2016. With its free calls and cheap data, Reliance Jio rocked an industry mired in debt and sent some competitors into bankruptcy. The group is betting on this unit’s pipe to deliver a wide range of services from e-commerce to entertainment in a market with nearly 600 million smartphones. Reliance Jio is now preparing to auction 5G spectrum in India by the end of July.
The twins have a younger brother, 27-year-old Anant, who is a board member of Jio Platforms. It is still unclear what elaborate plans his father has for his youngest child.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of group flagship Reliance Industries, has over the years studied the ways in which billionaire families, from the Waltons to the Kochs, build what they want for their next generation, Bloomberg News reported last year. , With the latest moves, Mukesh Ambani will still be looking at the Walton family model.
trust-like structure
Pointing to that structure, Ambanis were considering moving his family’s stake into a trust-like structure that would control Mumbai-listed major Reliance Industries, people familiar with the matter said last year.
As part of that plan, Ambani, his wife Nita and three children will have a stake in the new entity that Reliance will oversee and will be on board with some of Ambani’s long-term confidants as advisors. Management, however, will largely be entrusted to outsiders, professionals who will handle the day-to-day operations of India’s most influential company and its businesses, which span from oil refining and petrochemicals to telecommunications, e-commerce and green energy. Huh.
By bringing his children into formal roles, Ambani is trying to avoid repeating the mistake of his own father, Dhirubhai, who died without leaving a will in 2002. Mukesh and his younger brother Anil feuded for three years over control of Reliance, before his mother stepped in to settle the dispute by carving out the empire. The elder brother inherited oil refining and petrochemical businesses, while the younger brother inherited new ventures in finance, infrastructure, power and telecommunications.
On Tuesday, the 65-year-old tycoon paved the way for his first-born Akash Ambani to become the chairman of India’s No. 1 wireless carrier Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. Akash’s twin sister Isha, 30, is set to be appointed chairman of Reliance’s retail arm, and an announcement is expected early Wednesday, people familiar with the matter said. The company declined to comment.
While Mumbai-based Reliance has telegraphed such a leadership change, the move underscores the senior Ambani’s efforts to address family feuds that have torn apart several wealthy clans, including his own. Bloomberg News reported last year that the mogul’s preferred succession plan shares elements with Walmart Inc.’s Walton family, a framework that would allow the largest transfer of wealth in recent times.
The changes at the top come at a critical time for Reliance. In a pivot from its old refining and petrochemical business, the group is diversifying into e-commerce, green energy and expanding its retail footprint across the country. In 2020, technology venture Jio Platforms Ltd lured more than $25 billion from marquee Silicon Valley investors including Meta Platform Inc and Google. It has sold Amazon.com Inc. in the country including streaming. Ambitious plans to compete with
“It reflects a well-planned succession plan,” said Sankaran Manikutty, a former professor who teaches at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad and has worked extensively on family businesses, telecommunications and strategy in emerging economies. Business. For now, nothing will change for the group, but Mukesh Ambani will be around to guide the next generation.”
Prior to their rise, both Isha and Akash played lead roles as directors in those units. They were part of the teams that met with Meta when the California-based company Menlo Park decided to invest about $6 billion in Jio Platforms. At annual shareholders’ meetings in recent years, the twins have introduced new products and demonstrated various technology applications, such as virtual reality. His father credits his children for helping him with the internet business.
Yale University graduate
A Yale University graduate and former McKinsey & Company consultant, Isha entered Reliance’s e-commerce fashion retail in 2016 by starting online shopping portal Ajio. Like Jio Platforms, Reliance Retail Ventures also roped in several investors such as General Atlantic and KKR & Co in 2020, valuing the retailer at $62 billion at the time.
Reliance Retail runs a supermarket, India’s largest consumer electronics chain store, a cash and carry wholesaler, fast-fashion outlet and an online grocery store called JioMart. It recorded revenue of $2.6 billion for the year up to March 2022. The unit operates over 12,000 stores across the country.
Brown University alumnus
Akash, who has studied economics and is an alumnus of Brown University, will oversee a telecom operator that started in 2016. With its free calls and cheap data, Reliance Jio rocked an industry mired in debt and sent some competitors into bankruptcy. The group is betting on this unit’s pipe to deliver a wide range of services from e-commerce to entertainment in a market with nearly 600 million smartphones. Reliance Jio is now preparing to auction 5G spectrum in India by the end of July.
The twins have a younger brother, 27-year-old Anant, who is a board member of Jio Platforms. It is still unclear what elaborate plans his father has for his youngest child.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of group flagship Reliance Industries, has over the years studied the ways in which billionaire families, from the Waltons to the Kochs, build what they want for their next generation, Bloomberg News reported last year. , With the latest moves, Mukesh Ambani will still be looking at the Walton family model.
trust-like structure
Pointing to that structure, Ambanis were considering moving his family’s stake into a trust-like structure that would control Mumbai-listed major Reliance Industries, people familiar with the matter said last year.
As part of that plan, Ambani, his wife Nita and three children will have a stake in the new entity that Reliance will oversee and will be on board with some of Ambani’s long-term confidants as advisors. Management, however, will largely be entrusted to outsiders, professionals who will handle the day-to-day operations of India’s most influential company and its businesses, which span from oil refining and petrochemicals to telecommunications, e-commerce and green energy. Huh.
By bringing his children into formal roles, Ambani is trying to avoid repeating the mistake of his own father, Dhirubhai, who died without leaving a will in 2002. Mukesh and his younger brother Anil feuded for three years over control of Reliance, before his mother stepped in to settle the dispute by carving out the empire. The elder brother inherited oil refining and petrochemical businesses, while the younger brother inherited new ventures in finance, infrastructure, power and telecommunications.