scorecardresearch
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeEconomyMukesh Ambani names son Akash Ambani successor of Jio, appoints him chairman...

Mukesh Ambani names son Akash Ambani successor of Jio, appoints him chairman of the board

Akash Ambani, non-executive director of the country’s top wireless carrier, was appointed chairman after Mukesh Ambani resigned from the board.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

Mumbai: Mukesh Ambani’s first-born will succeed him as chairman of the conglomerate’s telecom unit, kickstarting a leadership transition in one of Asia’s wealthiest families.

Akash Ambani, 30, a non-executive director at India’s No.1 wireless carrier Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., was appointed chairman of the board. Mukesh Ambani resigned from the board, the company said in an exchange filing Tuesday, while staying as chair of the holding firm

This is the first instance where Mukesh Ambani has officially taken a backseat, after flagging last year that his children were taking on more responsibilities. Akash was part of teams that negotiated Meta Platforms Inc.’s investment into Jio’s parent, besides leading other key acquisitions.

“This is another clear signal that Mukesh Ambani is taking the next step of redefining his involvement with the group,” said Kavil Ramachandran, a professor and executive director at the Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise at the Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business. “I hope he has taken care to make this a successful succession by strengthening the team around Akash Ambani.”

For years, Mukesh Ambani has studied the ways in which billionaire families, from the Waltons to the Kochs, passed on what they’d built to the next generation. Recently, that process has intensified — Bloomberg reported last year — with the tycoon eyeing a blueprint for the next stage of his $217 billion empire that seeks to avert the succession warfare that’s torn apart so many wealthy clans including his own.

Akash Ambani, a Brown University alumnus, has studied economics. He married his childhood sweetheart, Shloka Mehta, the daughter of a Mumbai-based diamond trader and jeweler. They had a son, Prithvi, in 2020. Akash has a twin sister Isha and younger brother, Anant.

His elevation comes at a time when the Reliance group, dominated by fossil-fuel profits, is pivoting toward consumer offerings. Jio, since its debut in 2016, has shaken up India’s telecommunications industry with free calls and cheap data, forcing a consolidation that whittled down carriers to three from about a dozen four years ago.

Mukesh Ambani will continue to be the chairman of Jio Platforms Ltd., the flagship company that owns all Jio digital services brands including Reliance Jio Infocomm. –Bloomberg


Also read: Mukesh Ambani’s consumer empire gets a cricket spin after bagging IPL digital rights


 

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular