Who is Mukesh Ambani, the man behind India’s first fortune, who spends lavishly on his children’s weddings?

He would spend 10 million dollars (9.2 million euros) for a private performance by Justin Bieber. If the tabloids are to be believed, Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, will stop at nothing to propose his son Anant a Dantesque wedding. For several weeks now, we have been slowly uncovering the latest whims of the 66-year-old billionaire towards his heir and his fiancee, Radhika Merchant, the daughter of the CEO of a pharmaceutical group. This is evidenced by the numerous pre-wedding parties organized by the businessman.

“Minimum of the Union”.

It all started in March with a moonlit performance for these first pre-wedding celebrations. Paying $6.3 million (€5.8 million) for the three-day gala, Rihanna then performed in front of 1,200 guests, including Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Ivanka Trump. After watching the video clips of the evening, some Internet users criticize the singer for being satisfied with the “bare minimum” during her performance. And we can only agree, a little hilarious. On said sequences, the artist plays, dances in an approximate manner, and often allows the audience to sing the songs for him.

It is not important. the singer found a real windfall there and Mukesh Ambani showed the extent of his influence. Especially since the businessman is not superfluous. Two months later, he organized a cruise for 800 guests, still within the framework of this prenup. This time Mukesh Ambani’s son, Anant, offers the guests to board Italy and sail to France for three days. The program includes swimming and relaxation, but also DJing by David Guetta and performances by Katy Perry, Backstreet Boys and Pitbull.

It’s easy to imagine taking part in these festivities under the Italian sun, given the rain that drenches the streets of Paris. The disgruntled residents of Portofino and Genoa came into contact a little too closely with the guests and their noise pollution. Celebrities would really make a noise at night, in addition to the restrictions placed on residents, particularly the security perimeters for the event. Let the locals be sure. The true union of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant, celebrated on Friday, July 12, should not come back to disturb their peace.

14-storey building

Meanwhile, Mukesh Ambani is said to have arranged mass weddings for 52 underprivileged Indian couples. Each of them would receive gold and silver jewelry, $1,200 (€1,100) in cash and “enough reserves to last a year,” Reliance, the billionaire’s company, revealed.

If the founder of the Indian Super League, the founder of the Football League, the head of the Mumbai Indians cricket team, the owner of mansions in Dubai, New York and England and, by the way, one of the most powerful people on the planet, can easily live a playboy, we quickly understand that it is so no: Every day the sixty-year-old would be a vegetarian, wouldn’t drink a drop of alcohol and would want to invest in renewable energy. His philanthropic activities later propelled him 5^e In the nomination of the greatest philanthropists of India in 2015.

And we wonder who this businessman really is, whose appetite for excess seems to be combined with a certain generosity. How do you become number 11?^e world wealth (124 billion dollars or 114 billion euros, according to Forbes: )? We look at the story of this kid from Mumbai, as gorgeous as its capital. According to legend, Mukesh Ambani grew up in a small two-room apartment in the heart of the slums of Bhuleshwar. While his mother raised Mukesh and his younger siblings, his father was a textile fiber trader and founded his own company, Reliance, in the mid-1960s. So much so that after earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering in Mumbai, Mukesh interrupted his master’s degree at Stanford in 1981 to return to India and help his father grow the company. Result? The company, which now has interests in petrochemicals and telecommunications, raises $100 billion (€92 billion) annually. In 2000, Mukesh Ambani received the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award. His clan also moved to a 14-story building. Mukesh occupies his building.

The dancer

And love in all this? Here again, Mukesh’s father exerts his influence. One day, when the patriarch attends a dance performance, he marvels at the grace of a certain Nita. And, of course, he decides to call him to ask to meet his eldest son. The engagement of 21-year-old Mukesh and Nita turns out to be just as hasty. After several meetings, the elder Ambani would simply park his car in traffic, a happy thought in Mumbai, and refuse to start until his partner accepted the marriage proposal.

Let it be clear. we are not giving up anything on Mukesh Ambani. The couple got married in 1985 and gave birth to three children, Akash and his twin sister Isha in 1991 and Anant in 1995. The clan settled in a 27-story building equipped with a garage for 160 cars. private cinema, swimming pool, gym and three helipads. Nita, however, assures that her husband keeps his feet on the ground. According to him, Mukesh is certainly “busy in influencing the future of Reliance and the country”. But he would do better to “influence his children,” he emphasized in the interview iDiva: .

succession

The message was received by a concerned director who does not hesitate to miss his board of directors meetings to oversee the duties of his heirs. Meanwhile, they were actively preparing for their future. In 2023, he entrusted Akash with the chairmanship of Jio, Reliance’s telecom division. His younger son, Anant, inherits the energy sector. And daughter Isha from the retail department. Moreover, Mukesh’s children’s education is largely inspired by what his own father gave him.

In 2017, the businessman assured during a summit that his father is his biggest source of inspiration and has always treated him like a friend. A relationship she wants to reproduce with her children. With several nuances. “I never dared to tell my father, ‘You don’t understand,'” he joked at the time. My kids tell me this a lot. After the speech, my daughter Isha once told me that I was “very boring”.

If this is how Mukesh prepares his succession, it is due, we learn, to a dark chapter in his history. And we are not far from the failures of the main characters of the series, Kendall, Siobhan and Roman Roy. succession correct. Back in 2002, Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh’s father, from whom he learned everything, died at the age of 69 without leaving a will. What followed were years of legal battles between Mukesh and his brother Anil, who fought for control of Reliance. At first glance, their bond seemed unbreakable. As children, they were locked in a garage for two days, fed fried meat and water, because they stole food intended for guests. The event that sealed their bond…

Beyonce and 10,000 guests

As adults, however, the two brothers will face each other in court. The reliance is then split into two parts. The decision, which is not enough to calm the situation, blames the Indian government on Mukesh in the context of his business. Charges of espionage have also been raised. So much so that the mother of the two men had to intervene. The two men have since reportedly reconciled. Loaded with debt, Anil finally calls on Mukesh to wipe the slate clean in 2019. The two brothers were even photographed together at Isha’s wedding in 2018. A union as flamboyant as Ambani’s. The young woman actually got married in front of an audience of 10,000 guests after Beyoncé’s private concert.