Page 54 - Forbes - USA (March 2018)

T HE WO R L D ’ S BI L L ION A I RE S

For a decade India’s richest
man waged a blood feud
with his younger brother for
control of the subcontinent’s
telecommunications
industry. Now Mukesh
Ambani shares the inside
story of his ultimate
triumph—Jio, an ultra-cheap
4G broadband service whose
biggest winners will be the
millions of ordinary Indians
who suddenly consume
more mobile data than
either the U.S. or China.

n a cool, dry evening late last year, 50,000 employees and friends of Reliance Industries, India’s most
valuable company, packed into a cavernous temporary stadium 25 miles outside downtown Mumbai to
celebrate the firm’s 40th annual “Family Day.” Another 200,000 people dialed in via video link to watch

the show, which was hosted by Bollywood mega-celeb Shah Rukh Khan (33.6 million Twitter follow-
ers), singer Sonu Nigam (18.8 million likes on Facebook) and veteran actor and game-show host Am-

bitabh Bachchan, who staged a round of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? The five-hour event culminat-

ed with dazzling fireworks and a midnight feast featuring vegetarian delicacies like chickpea-and-rice-

o fl our dumplings, spicy cottage cheese and lentils.
But the real star of the occasion was Mukesh Ambani, Reliance’s 60-year-old chairman, managing director and
largest shareholder and the 19th-richest man in the world, with a net worth of $40.1 billion. “Can Reliance be
among the top 20 companies in the world?” he called out to the crowd, which obediently raised their lamps, turning RITAM BANERJEE FOR FORBES
the arena into a moving sea of lights. “Yes, we can! Yes, we will!”
Ambani’s ambition is understandable given the scope of what he has already achieved. Reliance is the 106th-larg-

The Fortu

52 | FORBES MARCH 31, 2018