Meet the Ambanis, who live in a $1 billion skyscraper and mingle with royals and Bollywood stars
Mukesh Ambani is worth $111 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The world's 11th-richest person is the chairman and majority owner of Reliance Industries.
The Ambanis live in a 27-story skyscraper in Mumbai thought to have cost $1 billion to construct.
Mukesh Ambani, the richest person in India and 11th-richest person in the world, is kicking off pre-wedding celebrations for his son Anant in Gujarat this weekend.
Mukesh Ambani is worth $111 billion per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
He's the owner and chairman of Reliance Industries, a massive conglomerate that includes telecom arm Jio Platforms, which has been thriving due to a "flurry" of investments in recent years, per Fortune.
The Ambanis made headlines in 2018 for throwing one of the most lavish wedding celebrations ever for Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal. It included a private Beyoncé concert and celebrity guests including Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas, Hillary Clinton, and Arianna Huffington.
This week the family is staging an extravagant 3-day pre-wedding celebration for Anant, Mukesh Ambani's youngest son. Tech heavyweights such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are among the 1,200 guests attending the festivities, The Guardian reported. A performance by Rihanna is expected to kick off the first day of celebrations, per Reuters.
The star-studded list of invitees also includes Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Samsung Electronics' executive chair, Jay Y. Lee, The Times of India reported.
The Ambani family home in Mumbai is a 27-story skyscraper that cost an estimated $1 billion to build.
Here's a look at the Ambani family's fortune, relationships, friends, and lavish lifestyles.
The Ambani family in India has been called Asia's richest family by Forbes.
The family patriarch, Mukesh Ambani, has an estimated net worth of $111 billion, making him the 11th-richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg.
The Indian family's massive wealth began with Dhirubhai Ambani, who founded Reliance Industries to manufacture fabrics and textiles.
Reliance Industries is now a Fortune 500 company worth $240 billion, and one of the most valuable companies in India.
Dhirubhai died in 2002 at age 69 without a will, leaving his company to be run by both of his sons: Mukesh and his younger brother, Anil.
Source: Bloomberg
A bitter succession battle between the two brothers followed their father's death and resulted in a rivalrous relationship between Mukesh and Anil.
Ultimately, Mukesh was left in charge of the majority of Reliance.
In 2005, the brothers split the company in a deal negotiated by their mother, and Mukesh was left with control of the oil, gas, petrochemicals, and refining operations of the business.
Anil took over construction, telecommunications, asset management, entertainment and power generation businesses.
Today, 66-year-old Mukesh Ambani is worth an estimated $111 billion as the chairman and largest shareholder of Reliance Industries.
Ambani surpassed Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma in July 2018 to become the richest man in Asia after a thriving year for his company.
But in early 2020, Ambani's wealth ranking dropped down slightly below Ma's.
Anil Ambani, 64, is chairman of Reliance Group but has only a fraction of his older brother's wealth.
Bloomberg reported that 2018 saw Anil's businesses suffer from "legal and liquidity challenges."
Indian media reported in September 2018 that Anil's "cash-strapped" Reliance Communications will quit the telecom business and turn to real estate.
In early 2020, Anil told a UK court that his net worth was in fact "zero" and that he was bankrupt.
Anil is married to Tina Ambani, a former Bollywood actress ...
Source: The National
... and they have two sons. Anmol Ambani works within his father's company and was named a director of Reliance Capital in 2016.
Source: Reliance Capital
Anil's younger son Anshul joined the family business as a management trainee in 2019.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Mukesh Ambani is married to Nita Ambani.
Source: Forbes
Nita is the chair of Reliance Foundation, the company's charity organization.
She's also involved with the company's sports ventures as well as marketing and branding strategy for Reliance Jio Infocomm, Reliance's mobile network operator.
Nita and Mukesh have three children, the youngest being 28-year-old Anant Ambani, who has started taking part in some of his father's company's events and meetings.
Source: Bloomberg
Then there are 32-year-old twins Isha and Akash Ambani.
Source: Forbes
Akash is a board member at Reliance Jio. Both he and his twin sister studied at Ivy League universities in the US, Akash at Brown University ...
Source: Forbes
Akash is married to his high school sweetheart, Shloka Mehta, the daughter of a well-known diamond merchant. Mehta reportedly studied at Princeton University and the London School of Economics.
Source: Forbes, South China Morning Post
They were married in Mumbai in March 2019. Google CEO Sundar Pichai, former British prime minister Tony Blair, and actress Priyanka Chopra were reportedly among the guests.
Source: Forbes, India Today, Straits Times
Akash's twin sister, Isha, is on the board of India's largest retailer, Reliance Retail, and is a co-director for the telecoms arm Jio.
Source: Business Insider
She previously spent a stint working at management consulting firm McKinsey in New York.
Source: India Times
Isha married Anand Piramal, now 34, heir to a real estate and pharmaceutical business, in December 2018, following several lavish pre-wedding events.
Source: Business Insider
Other pre-wedding festivities were held in the western Indian city of Udaipur.
Source: Business Insider
These celebrations included a private concert by Beyoncé, who reportedly sang "Crazy in Love," "Naughty Girl," and "Perfect" at the Oberoi Udaivilas hotel in Udaipur.
Source: Business Insider
The wedding ceremony itself was held at the Ambani family home in Mumbai.
Source: Business Insider
An estimated 600 guests attended the extravagant wedding, which cost an estimated $100 million by some reports. A Reliance spokesman, however, said it cost no more than $15 million.
Source: Forbes
Vintage cars carried guests during the wedding procession.
Brothers Akash and Anant rode in on horseback.
The celebration included dance performances and sightings of many high-profile guests ...
... including former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with her longtime aide, Huma Abedin ...
... actor Priyanka Chopra and her husband, Nick Jonas ...
... and Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan.
The wedding venue was the Ambani family home in Mumbai: a 27-story luxury skyscraper that cost an estimated $1 billion to build. It's called Antilia after a mythical Atlantic island.
Source: Business Insider
Antilia includes swimming pools, ballrooms, a garden that spans three floors, six floors of parking, three helipads, and it can withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake. A staff of 600 people runs the home.
Source: Business Insider
It's estimated to be one of the world's most expensive properties, second to Buckingham Palace. In this photo, trees surrounding the skyscraper are decorated for Isha's wedding.
Source: Business Insider
Isha reportedly moved out of the family home following her wedding.
Source: Reuters
She and her new husband moved into a bungalow in Mumbai called Gulita.
Source: Reuters
The Ambani family has long mingled with high-profile global figures, including Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall ...
... former British Prime Minister David Cameron ...
... Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ...
... former US president Barack Obama ...
... and former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. The Clintons and the Ambanis have reportedly known each other for nearly 20 years.
Source: The Guardian
Ambani's fortune grew by $16.1 billion in 2019, with his net worth reaching about $60 billion in January 2020.
But most of that was wiped out in the first four months of 2020, per Bloomberg's Billionaires Index, due to massive fluctuations in the stock market because of the coronavirus pandemic.
But Ambani's companies have since rebounded after a "flurry" investments, particularly in the telecom arm, Jio Platforms.
Jio has grown to become one of India's biggest mobile carriers, with 388 million subscribers, according to Forbes.
Source: Forbes
In April 2020, Facebook announced it was investing $5.7 billion in Jio, making Mark Zuckerberg's social media giant the largest minority shareholder in Ambani's telecom service.
"This investment underscores our commitment to India, and our excitement for the dramatic transformation that Jio has spurred in the country," Facebook said in a statement. "In less than four years, Jio has brought more than 388 million people online, fueling the creation of innovative new enterprises and connecting people in new ways."
In July 2020, Jio Platforms launched JioMeet, a video conferencing service that is seen as a rival to Zoom and Google Meet.
JioMeet offers unlimited free group calls with up to 100 participants, and unlike Zoom, it doesn't impose a short time limit on free calls, per TechCrunch. A free call can last for up to 24 hours.
The company did not say whether JioMeet would be available for users outside of India.
In June 2020, Ambani became the first Asian man to break into the ranks of the world's 10 richest people, Fortune reported.
The next-richest Asian is Chinese businessman Pony Ma, who's worth $52 billion.
Mukesh Ambani's three children are involved in the family business in some capacity, but Ambani's succession plan for the company is "unclear," according to Bloomberg. Only time will tell who will take over the $100 billion company.
Source: Bloomberg
Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant are set to marry in July 2024 after they got engaged in a Gol Dhana ceremony in Mumbai last January
Rihanna is expected to perform at the pre-wedding celebration in Gujarat on March 1
Source: Reuters
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