The Ambanis rule the roost as Asia’s richest family, with a net worth of $119 billion. They draw headlines owing to their hedonistic lifestyle, throw parties grander than the Oscars, and manage to get the globe’s bigwigs from varied fields under one roof. While the power, possessions, prosperity, and plentitude of the clan headed by Mr. Mukesh Ambani are undeniable, his early years were elementary, unlike his three kids. The Ambani name was made famous by Mukesh Ambani’s father, Dhirubhai Ambani. He is the launchpad that led the renowned Reliance Industries (RIL) to become an established conglomerate.
The business journey was started in the late 1950s by a humble petrol pump attendant who amassed a meager Rs 500 or $100 to start a new livelihood in Mumbai. After quitting his $30 job in Aden, Yemen, Dhirubhai became a businessman.
The beginning was tough, with the family of six surviving in a one-room chawl in a Mumbai suburb. Even a visionary like Dhirubhai would never have imagined his son Mukesh would one day reside in a $5 billion tower, Antilia, featuring a fancy snow room, a 168-car garage, a helipad, a spa, a jogging track, and humongous banquet halls. While the extravagance came later on, once Reliance Industries went public, Dhirubhai knew that he was destined for bigger things achieved via the path of business.
The street-smart son of a teacher born in the Indian state of Gujarat, took Reliance Industries from a flourishing business to a $15 billion conglomerate before he passed away in 2002.
Today, his successor, Mukesh Ambani, continues to tread the path of genius and has made the company a mammoth worth $253 billion. The success is witnessed in their celebrations and is shared with hundreds of guests (over and over again).
The Ambani clan truly earned the global spotlight since the first leg of the pre-wedding celebrations of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant. They got global superstar Rihanna to end her sabbatical and serenade the crowds. The headline-grabbing festivities continued in a four-day cruise extravaganza in the Mediterranean. Greats like Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry, and Andrea Bocelli were roped in to perform. The man who spent his childhood in a one-room home rented the entire town of Portofino for his son’s pre-wedding party.
The grandeur continued on home ground, Mumbai, where Justin Bieber was paid a whopping $10 million for his performance during the wedding in July. The map of progress from humble beginnings, where the grandfather earned a salary of Rs 300 in his early days, to hosting nuptials that set the family back by over $300 million, is genuinely jaw-dropping. To put things into perspective, it costs $56.7 million to host the Academy Awards. At this rate, the Ambanis could host five such ceremonies and still laugh to the bank.
