From $42 Billion to $0 – How Anil Ambani Lost All His Money

we all love a story of rags to riches but how many times have you heard about someone going from multi-billion Dollar riches to empty pocket Rags well that's exactly what happened to Indian businessman Anil Amani from the most expensive sibling rivalry in the world to jail bailout scandals and a mindboggling $7 billion debt here's how one man went from $42 billion to zero Omani Rising so who exactly is Anil Ambani and how did he fall so far well to get an understanding first we need to take a trip back in time to Mid 20th century India Anil was born in Mumbai then known as Bombay on June 4th 1959 the youngest son of the founder of one of the most powerful companies on the planet dupai Amani at the age of 17 d had migrated from India to Aiden and Yemen to start his career as a clerk at bessen Co a large trading firm here he learned skills in trading and accounting and got a taste for entrepreneurship ready to strike out on his own deai returned to India in 1958 where he started his own business trading spices which eventually developed into his Venture Reliance commercial Corporation while deai and his wife Ki laan had already had their first son m cash on April 19th 1957 once back in India they welcomed little Anil as a young family the ambanis were living in a humble two-bedroom apartment at the ji hind estate in baleswar Mumbai but deerab High's business was on the up he soon expanded into the textiles industry and followed a strategy of offering highquality products at a much lower cost than his competitors this risky approach which depended on high volume sales to be profitable was a raging success and saw business grow quickly soon deai was able to move the Amani Clan into a six-story apartment in the usak Kiron building Mumbai considering his humble beginnings deai was determined that his sons should learn the value of hard work and would often organize incentive oriented family outings Anil later recalled that he and his elder brother would go out on challenging sixmile TS in the pouring rain and receive a box of mangoes as a reward to show them that hard work and determination pays off but we'll soon see how successfully those attempts to inspire business savviness worked out for each of deab High's Sons by the 1980s Reliance had begun to expand into other Industries including the profitable industry of petrochemicals by 1983 Reliance had gone from a single minimal office in Mumbai to being worth $12 million as profit continued to Pile in deab high purchased a colossal 14-story high-rise property in cuff parade a significant business district in Mumbai which became the official Ambani family home there was never any question of whether Brothers Anil and mesh would join the family business and by their mid-20s both had important roles within Reliance Industries aged just 24 at the time of their respective inductions into Reliance mukes joined in 1981 as a Hands-On facilities manager and Anil came through the door in 1983 as an executive dealing with business investors in the press the roles suited each man perfectly Mukesh was the more low-key rigidly focused businessman who liked spending his evenings in with his wife Nita and two children Anil on the other hand was a little more extravagant enjoying running with mumbai's Elite crowd mixing with socialites and Bollywood Stars developing a reputation as something of a Playboy while Mukesh shied away from the spotlight Anil relished in it but Anil love of stardom proved quite a problem in more ways than one Amani Civil War while Anil loved mixing with those in the Bollywood Hall of Fame to strengthen business relationships he also had his very own romance with Bollywood actress Tina munim while they say love is blind an Neil's family certainly weren't when it came to Tina's profession at that time being in the film industry was slightly taboo for a traditional family like the Bonnie and Anil and Tina were soon encouraged to call it quits however after a lot of convincing anil's parents reluctantly gave their blessing and in February 1991 Anil and Tina were finally married while Anil might have thought that this was the last major Feud he'd have with his family members he had no idea the storm that was coming by 2002 Reliance had grown into a $15 billion conglomerate but tragedy was about to strike the unani family on July 6th of that year deai Amani died suddenly of a heart attack aged 69 at the time of his unexpected passing deai was ranked the 138th richest man in the world according to Forbes with a net worth of $2. 9 billion at the time the parliament of India had strict rules about inheritance and the ambanis had to follow a law called the Hindu succession act under the Hindu succession act the personal property of a man who dies without leaving a will has to be divided among his widow and children in the case of the ambanis the responsibility of running Reliance was the biggest issue to iron out as the eldest Mukesh took on the mantle as chairman of the family business and Anil became the vice chairman while this might seem like a logical conclusion to the problem of succession the two brothers were very different and cracks began to show as soon as the power shift occurred as the eldest Mukesh saw himself as the sole boss of things whereas Anil saw the two as equal and it reached a point where each brother was making important decisions for the company without consulting the other first sibling rivalries aren't exactly uncommon especially when it comes to arguing who's the best but the role of Reliance had become so important for India's economy that something needed to be done things got so bad that even India's Finance Minister tried stepping in to get these bickering Brothers to make up to no avail it was going to take even more than a government official to quash the most expensive sibling rivalry of all time and no one was more suited to settle this Rift than Mommy deist kokilaben Amani however despite kokil lain's attempts to knock some sense into her sons the issue of leadership remained and neither Brother was budging on the all-important point of who was to have ultimate control of the Reliance Empire eventually kilan was able to get the squabbling boys to settle on a solution Reliance was to be split in two one half owned by Mukesh and one by Anil while their views on who should be running things differed greatly keeping reliance as a multi-industry Enterprise was one thing the brothers could agree on mesh took on the already established profitable companies namely Reliance Industries and Reliance petrochemicals whose main business was selling gas Anil on the other hand wanted to take on the newer flashier companies that showed great promise for growth including Reliance Communications and reliance power the split included a fraternal truce in which neither Brother could enter the other's Industries to compete with their business for 10 years it also contained another agreement called right of first refusal this allowed either side to get a chance to buy out the other ahead of any other interested parties in the case of business shares being sold but while the truce seemed like a great solution it would ultimately contribute towards some of the worst problems the brothers would ever face after 3 years of negotiation reliance's split was finalized and approved by India's Supreme Court in December 2005 the brothers were able to go their separate ways each giving a soft Rebrand to their respective halves of the business mukash dubbed his Venture Reliance Industries limited and anil's side became Reliance Anil deai Amani group more commonly known as Reliance Ada Group by 2006 each was settled in their new roles As Leaders of two of the biggest corporations in all of India while they were still living Under One Roof at the umani huge family home there couldn't have been more distance between the two and both were determined to become the most successful Amani the golden years in his early years as a solo act Anil thush his first big Venture was into the world of telecoms and he successfully disrupted the industry with a lowcost mobile network provider dubbed Reliance communication this Venture saw anal invest around $2 billion in securing 3G Wireless signal Technologies to keep up with the advancements being made in the telecoms industry in the late ughs 3G was the height of tech and soon Reliance Communications was the number one mobile provider in all of India Anil didn't stop to enjoy his success though and pushed on to the next in his quest to further strengthen his hold Anil purchased the profitable Adlabs films and their chain of movie theaters in 2005 renaming it Reliance media works by 2008 Anil had become the owner of the largest Multiplex operator in India with more than 700 screens Anil also made Hollywood Connections and signed a 1. 2 billion deal with American filmmaker Steven Spielberg to help fund his production company DramWorks in 200 2008 his collaboration with DramWorks meant that Anil reaped the benefits from some financially acclaimed titles you may recognize including warhorse linin and Bridge of spies in 2012 Reliance media Works helped fund movies garnering 11 Oscar nominations including a win for octavus Spencer's performance in the H Anil even held private screenings of his Hollywood Hits at his home and had a star studded roster of guests that included everyone who was anyone in Mumbai Society all except for mesh that is in 2008 anil's Golden Years peaked he made made Indian stock market history when he put shares in Reliance power up for sale at an initial public offering the company finished with a demand for 10.

6 times the number of shares available all of which were bought up for $3 billion total in just 60 seconds to cap off his financial successes Anil was finally listed on Forbes 2008 list of billionaires as the sixth richest man in the world an astonishing $42 billion to his name and despite all this it still wasn't enough and Anil still felt he was in the shadow of his older brother who was just one step ahead of him in position number five a billion dollars richer little did Anil know however that his jealous ambition was about to see him come tumbling down phone problems anil's problems really started when he discovered that his mobile company Reliance Communications needed to drum up a higher number of sales if they were to continue to suceed in the market to fund his plans for Mega extension Anil took out numerous massive loans to prop up Reliance Communications in a bid to keep up with advancing technology thanks to anil's $2 billion investment into acquiring 3G capabilities it's estimated that this 3G expansion accounted for around 50% of Reliance Communications debt however there was a light at the end of the tunnel as at the time Reliance Communications were in talks with South African mobile comp company MTN to combine the two companies together into one Mega Mobile merger this was expected to spawn a powerful Global telecoms firm spanning two growing mobile markets in India and South Africa touted at over 70 billion do in value but disastrously the plan failed and all thanks to a member of anil's family Clan remember that right of first refusal agreement the brothers signed in 2005 well that deal gave Mukesh priority claims on shares of Reliance Communications in the event of a sale or merger this created a legality issue that meant MTN was unwilling to close the deal and it fell through in July 2008 anil's hopes for a debt clearing way out were dashed as if things couldn't get any worse in April 2011 anil's managing director and two vice presidents were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to acquire mispriced mobile network licenses for comp's Reliance Communications invested in to deceptively bolster share prices now in a sea of debt and Scandal it seemed that the only way forward was to borrow even more money to pay back the money Anil had already borrowed in 2012 Anil secured yet another loan from three Chinese Banks the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China China Development Bank and exm Bank of China between the trio of banks Anil secured a whopping 1. 2 billion to help repay the 7. 19 billion pile of debt that had stacked up around Reliance Communications by 2011 but as dire as the situation was getting the worst was Yet to Come brotherly betrayal another bank busting Venture had begun germinating in 2010 when an Neil took out a loan of $922 million from exm bank to build a huge 780 megawatt power plant this seemed like a feas way to eventually turn a profit considering that as a family agreement mesh had agreed to sell anil's companies the gas necessary to construct and fuel The Venture at half the rate of government prices however when construction began the government would not approve the brothers previously agreed deal as the court argued gas prices must remain fixed to be fair to The Wider economy unfortunately for an Neil and very fortunately for mesh this ruling would mean mesh's gas profits from the power plant constru ruction would double feeling that this was just another Ploy in the ongoing sibling rivalry Anil publicly claimed at several press conferences in the late naughties that mesh was trying every trick in the book to back out of his contractual obligations the very Public Power struggle didn't do much for anil's image and when the Court ruled in mesh's favor many of anil's companies plunged in value at the stock exchange in the aftermath of the exhausting case the brothers agreed to scrap the non-competition agreement broke Ed for them by their mother back in 2005 while the new agreement sokes promised to not enter the gas-based electricity generation business until April 2022 the brothers were now free to compete on any other remaining industrial turfs each occupied and there was one of anil's industries that mesh had plans for big plans connection lost while his younger brother was sinking things had been looking up for maash in more ways than one in 2012 mesh moved into his own patch of Paradise in Mumbai and oh boy it's a paradise all right this not so humble a boat is one of the world's largest and most elaborate private homes scaling 568 ft with 27 stories taking 4 years to build at an earth shattering cost of $1.

2 billion in building such an over-the-top home you can't blame Anil for feeling like mesh was rubbing his face in all this excessive wealth dubbed antia this skyscraper Mansion is beyond extravagant and includes a six-story 168 car garage and nine ornately decorated elevators antia even has its very own private 50 seat movie theater although it looked like watching drama on the big screen just wasn't enough mesh was about to put on a real life show of Brotherly betrayal in September 2016 6 years after the new agreement M that allowed the brothers to compete mesh entered the communications industry with a bang and launched his own mobile network called Gio Gio quickly racked up more than 150 million customers after offering lowcost 4G Mobile coverage leaving other big players in the market scrambling to keep up Gio changed the face of the Indian Telecom industry and anil's Reliance Communications couldn't afford to keep up given their colossal debts once the largest mobile company in India anil's Telecom company unbelievably lost over 98% of its value over a 3year period it's unclear what exactly M's motives were for moving in on his younger brother's industry like this but Gio's success was making yet another one of the holes that were continuing to grow in an Neil's Pockets hero to zero in the aftermath of mesh's success in the telecoms market Anil landed in even more trouble he was hit with a lawsuit from former partner in Swedish Network company Ericson in 2016 when he couldn't keep up with debt repayments for the $80 million he owed them and was ordered by the Indian Supreme Court to pay up with interest or go to jail with just days to go before the deadline help arrived from an unexpected Source straining to find a way to keep the Ambani name far away from any association with financial ruin Mukesh knew he had to do something and swooped in with the cash needed to save anneal from going fully under while this might seem like an act of Brotherly Love being bailed out by his brother like this would have been the peak of humiliation for Anil given their financial Feud after the Ericson Fiasco anneal knew that his days in the Telecom sector were numbered and in February 2019 Reliance Communications finally filed for bankruptcy as if things couldn't get any worse there were more lenders out there that were on an Neil's Trail anyone that wanted a piece of an Neil's dwindling Fortune would have to get in line as he was being pursued by dozens of creditors in the latter half of the 2010s the most significant were the three Chinese Banks who Neil still hadn't repaid who brought a case against him in 2019 with claims that he had provided a personal guarantee that they would be reimbursed 7 years after Anil had borrowed that $1. 2 billion he'd only managed to repay a small fraction and the banks were in Hot Pursuit for the remaining $717 million with the seemingly NeverEnding sea of debts Rising above his head Anil Ambani finally reached a place that just 10 years earlier would have seemed impossible on February 7th 2020 to the shock of onlookers Anil made the extraordinary claim that the dazzling net worth of 42 billion dollars he'd had in 2008 had now plummeted to zero zip zilch NADA on top of his ongoing feud with his brother as well as his besched track record in business management an Neil had well and truly made his way way from hero to zero and lost it all or so it may have seemed despite claiming to have nothing and filing for bankruptcy Anil somehow continued to enjoy the external indicators of vast wealth including his luxury home a private jet a $3 million fleet of cars and a yacht worth tens of millions of dollars Anil rebuff the claims that he owned this luxury yacht and instead claimed it was owned by a company so didn't count as part of his personal wealth but of course that didn't account for the rest of the numerous insanely valuable belongings he owned the truth is that while an Neil's wallet and bank balance may have appeared empty when it came to liquid assets he was still in possession of a lot of non-liquid Assets in terms of ownership liquid assets are those that can be quickly and easily turned into Cash like money in a savings account while a non-liquid asset requires selling at the potential expense of considerable time and loss of value like a Neil's extravagant Fleet of cars in cases where a defendant is expected to pay a lot of money the court will often ask them to tap into their non-liquid assets to make payments however while Anil claimed that he'd sold all his jewelry to pay for legal fees he was able to get away without selling his $3 million worth of cars or lavish home by having his lawyers claim that he technically didn't own those assets and that they were purchased in others names what's more in 2021 claims surfaced that Anil had concealed millions of dollars in overseas accounts so the reality of his allegedly empty Pockets very likely has hidden depths during the case against the Chinese Banks the judge also contested that Anil surely had the option for more financial assistance from his big brother Anil replied that he'd been told that his fraternal bailout was a gesture that would not be repeated future fortunes as we've seen the Ambani Brothers have had quite the diverging paths over the years in 2021 The Fortune 500 list ranked mesh Reliance Industries limited as 155th on their list of successful Global businesses being worth an astounding $217 billion anil's Big Brother continues to make waves in the world of business making friends with the likes of Mark Zuckerberg mu made a deal to purchase around 10% of mukesh's mobile phone company Gio in 2020 as of early 2022 mesh is the richest man in India worth a staggering 92. 7 billion I know who I'd want to draw my name in the Ambani family office secret Santa by stark contrast Anil has taken a more private lifestyle working tirelessly behind the scenes to attempt to rescue his companies and reinflated his net worth however much it may really be reportedly 6 days a week Anil wakes up at 5:00 a.

m. and goes on a 10m run follows a no sugar diet and works 12-hour days at the office between 9:30 a. m.

and at 9:30 p. m.