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Anil Ambani: More than just riches to rags tale

Published : Monday, 23 September, 2019 at 12:00 AM  Count : 470
Shahriar Feroze
Shahriar Feroze

Shahriar Feroze

Penning on businessmen, successful or the failed ones, was never my cup of tea. However, coincidentally coming across a few YouTube video posts last week on the rise and fall of Anil Ambani made me overtly curious on the most ill- fated member of the House of Ambani.
 
In today's dog-eat-dog business world the ones who had failed, in whatever country barely matters since the media hype is mostly busy promoting only the successful ones. Volumes of analytical studies and investigative journalism can be accessed on Dhirubhai Ambani and his subsequent divided business empire.

One of his two sons to have succeeded to take that business empire ahead , otherwise Mukesh Ambani has made his position almost permanent in the Indian and global rich and famous list for well over a decade. But what about the Ambani who had evidently failed and had went into near oblivion?

This piece is not meant to sympathise for a globally renowned failed businessman, rather it is about the unpredictable nature and the pitfalls of businesses and money making. It is possible to find hundreds, possibly thousands of inspirational quotes by renowned business personalities in the web. Books on commercial success and motivational speeches have become copious.  Tools to succeed in business are also developing in a new fashion. However, despite all cautions taken, one fine morning you might well be hitting the grounds smashed.

As much as it is sad and satirical, it is also about a man who has been reportedly reduced to a mere $0.5 billion from a whopping $ 42 billion in a matter of 11 years. Moreover, he has reportedly sold most of his company assets to pay up the loans he had incurred over the past decade.

Simultaneously during the same time, he had sold all his flagship companies. But his fate following the split of the Ambani Empire between him and his brother Mukesh was not that dreadful following the split. The 28,000 crore plus Reliance Empire was evenly divided among the two brothers following bitter personal and court battles following the death of Dhirubhai Ambani in 2002. Not to get into details, Mukesh had inherited much of the oil and petrochemical related businesses and etc and Anil had inherited his fare share of Telecom, Infocom and energy related businesses with a few other different business entities.

Subsequent to the split, business luck for both the brothers had appeared great. Both of them went from strength to strength while Anil went to have bought more companies than his brother. He became the seemingly blue-eyed boy for the Forbes business list for a few years.
 
Sporting an athletic figure and his passion for marathon and fashionable attires, Anil Ambani had appeared just the perfect man to re-introduce corporate India into the new millennium coupled with the thirst to thrive in unexplored newer business avenues. Similar to all business tycoons he had dreamt big and also diversified his interests with Big Cinema, Big Magic and Reliance Big Broadcasting, Adlabs films while signing a $billion plus deal with Spielberg's DreamWorks - all big ventures making him hit his pinnacle.

And all of a sudden misfortune struck in2014, it was time to clear the huge debts his power and infra companies had taken. Most of his companies were running in losses forcing him to sell his companies' assets.  Post 2014 it was all downhill.

Even worse, the big blow had from none other than his brother when Ambani senior had entered the telecom sector by launching JIO. It was the end for Anil's telecom-ambitions. Since then business for Anil Ambani had become purely clearing up piled up huge debts leaving him no room for a possible recovery. He had nearly hit his rock bottom, had his brother not bail him out with Rs 550 crore dues in early this year, otherwise he would have been behind bars today. And he still has millions in dues to clear up.

A mocking comparison in wealth between the two brothers - Mukesh Ambani's landmark residence Antilla in Mumbai is even worth more now than Anil Ambani's total financial worth. What can be more painful?
However, the billions of dollar questions here - how come one had managed to succeed while leaving the other to fail miserably?
It is true that if you are a businessman problem will keep coming from different directions and tackling them all efficiently on time becomes tough. Making errors in decision making, lack of monitoring to poor management, all factors together might reduce you to rubbles.
 
It is more than hard to believe for junior Ambani not to have attempted to recover from his losses. May be he had experimented with all available troubleshooting tips within and beyond the books. Perhaps he had hired and sacked the best possible managers money can buy. As a last resort, perhaps he had tried to buy of his most trusted astrologer to turn the stars in his favour. But nothing worked in the end.

And the last reason being, maybe he had lacked the much needed shrewd business acumen in the ever evolving business world. However, it is up to business journalists to investigate but the failed businessman has surely taught a great lesson to the global corporate world.
This writer believes, it is the best of times to make the Anil Ambani story the most thoroughly researched practical business case study about the highly erratic nature of today's business and corporate affairs. You may have it all and you can also lose that all - irrespective of all privileges.

In the world of all types of businesses, you have millions of new faces besides the old, but even lesser than 1 % succeeds. But do those less than 1 percent successful businessmen define today's business?
I have often found many answers to my question somewhat complex and confusing.

Asking from an academic perspective, do BBA and MBA degrees guarantee your success in running businesses?  Pursuing certificates are surely informative and educational to train you to prepare yourself for the corporate world. On that note Ambani junior too, had obtained a degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
The question, however, what more is needed beyond all financial and academic privileges to succeed in a business?

Many of you will surely reply with the luck factor in business. But what if, you had the opportunities to change your luck by taking well-timed reasonable decisions to pull back but you did not.
The concluding point, however, in whatever financial state Anil Ambani stands today - he echoes the unheard agony of millions of failed businessmen across the globe. Who listens to them?

This piece was actually intended to celebrate those failed businessmen who had taught the very few successful ones on what mistakes should be avoided at all costs in running businesses. Fate or luck obviously matters, but those who are flying high least bothers about luck until they have ran out of it.

Anil Ambani's monetary value may be insignificant today, but the rough ride that he had running his business empire, unquestionably merits a full length Bollywood biopic coupled with a few PHD thesis papers on business.

Are there any investors to fund these ventures?

Anil Ambani's Riches to Rags tale goes far beyond, it is also about invisible and unexplored dynamics of today's business world.

The writer is Assistant Editor, News & Editorial, and The Daily Observer


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