Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has completed the merger of its media assets with the India business of global media house Walt Disney and formed a joint venture with a valuation of over Rs 70,000 crore. The JV will be one of the largest media and entertainment companies in India with a combined revenue of approximately Rs 26,000 crore and will be led by Nita Ambani as its chairperson, according to a joint statement.
Politicians across the political spectrum graced Radhika Merchant and Anant Ambani's wedding ceremonies at the Jio World Convention Centre at the Bandra Kurla Complex in north west Mumbai.
Many Dharmagurus attended the Shubh Ashirwad ceremony.
The development marks a watershed moment in India's telecom history since fixed-line or landline connections formed the final segment where a State-owned operator was in the top spot.
Akash Ambani's first big job as he takes over as chairman of Reliance Jio, the group's telecom arm, is a no-brainer - he has to get his company through the long-awaited 5G auctions that are a few weeks away. But his bigger job, analysts said, will be to lead the transformation of the telecom company into a tech giant, a process that is underway as it seeks to list in the US. Insiders said there has been plenty of debate within the company's top executives on the auction strategy.
The Ambanis go all out to celebrate the wedding of their youngest son, Anant, with Radhika Merchant.
Surajeet Das Gupta explains why Mukesh Ambani's target is by no means impossible.
The licensee will have to ensure that at least half the areas under rural telecom exchanges gets the required street level coverage.
It, however, remains to be seen how much money Softbank actually puts in, what the implied equity valuation is and if the e-commerce venture is included in the Jio entity.
Reliance Industries chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday announced an additional Rs 20,000-crore investment for West Bengal over the next three years. Ambani said the fresh investment will be in the areas of digital life solutions, retail and bio-energy.
India's first auction of telecom spectrum in five years ended on Tuesday with Rs 77,814.80 crore of airwaves being bought, mostly by billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio. Over 2,250 MHz of spectrum, that carry telecom signals, in seven bands worth nearly Rs 4 lakh crore at the reserve or start price, was offered for bidding in the auction that began on Monday. Telecom secretary Anshu Prakash said 855.60 MHz of spectrum was bought for Rs 77,814.80 crore in the two-day auction.
With intense competition in telecom sector, the two companies are rushing to diversify into other revenue streams, prominent among which are cloud services.
The Mumbai police were on high alert after an X user @ffsfir wrote a post about the potential threat which reads like "My mind is wondering shamelessly that half the world would go upside down tomorrow after a bomb went off at the Ambani wedding. trillions of dollars in one pin code."
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio on Friday announced deferring the roll-out of the JioPhone Next - the low-priced smartphone it has developed with Google - to Diwali. The phone was previously to be launched on September 10. Ambani at the shareholder meeting of his flagship Reliance Industries in June, had stated that the JioPhone Next will be available for purchase on September 10.
'In the audience's mind there is no urgency to go see a film in the theatre.' 'If you pay for social media buzz it does not convert into bums on seats.'
Ordering groceries, vegetables and daily essentials is just a WhatsApp away as billionaire Mukesh Ambani's e-commerce platform JioMart taps into the popular messaging app to scale up online business in its fight for dominance in the giant Indian retail market with Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart. Ambani's twin children, Akash and Isha gave a preview of the ordering at Meta's second edition of the Fuel for India event on Wednesday. A new 'tap and chat' option allows users to order groceries through WhatsApp.
Reliance Industries (RIL's) annual report released on Sunday highlighted the company's focus on new energy solutions, with chairman and managing director (MD) Mukesh Ambani stating that the age of fossil fuels will not continue much longer. RIL has sought shareholders' approval to give Ambani another five-year term as MD till 2029 at nil salary. The recently demerged Jio Financial Services, which "will leverage the prowess of digital and retail businesses", was expected to be listed soon.
Investment by US PE firm KKR will add fire to Ambani's battle for dominance in the retail market that is also being eyed by Jeff Bezos' Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart.
Spectrum auction for mobile radiowaves services worth Rs 96,000 crore ended with bids worth about Rs 11,000 crore, according to sources. The government has put over 10,500 Mhz spectrum in eight frequency bands -- 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 2,500 MHz, 3,300 MHz and 26 GHz, valued at Rs 96,238 crore at base price, for auction.
Reliance Jio's aggressive target to reach 100 million households through the launch of the 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) could make it one of the world's largest players in this space. But this also marks a change from its earlier strategy of offering fibre-to-the home (FTTH) broadband to households. Despite its best efforts, in two years Jio has been able to connect only 7 million households with FTTH, as permission for right of way for the last mile became a major impediment and the process of laying ducts for the roll-out was slow and cumbersome.
Reliance Industries Ltd, India's most valuable company, on Friday reported a 5 per cent drop in its June quarter net profit as lower fuel cracks and petrochemical margins outdid gains in telecom and retail businesses. The oil-to-retail-to-telecom conglomerate's consolidated net profit was at Rs 15,138 crore, or Rs 22.37 per share, in April-June -- the first quarter of the current 2023-24 fiscal year -- compared to Rs 16,011 crore, or Rs 23.66 a share, earnings a year back, according to a company's statement.
Ambani said, it will be ready for trials as soon as 5G spectrum is available and can be ready for field deployment next year.
In an LBD livened up with silver, Radhika Merchant made an elegant appearance.
Global supermajor BP Plc's exclusivity with Reliance Industries Ltd has ended but the energy giant will continue to pursue oil and gas as well as mobility ventures in India with the Mukesh Ambani firm owing to an unwritten strategic partnership, BP's outgoing India head Sashi Mukundan said. BP in 2011 spent $7.2 billion to acquire 30 per cent interest in 23 oil and gas blocks of Reliance. Eastern offshore KG-D6 block was the cornerstone of the deal that also provided for a 10-year exclusivity period which meant that BP would take up energy projects or investments in India only in partnership with Reliance.
JioMeet, which has already got the endorsement of top government officials and politicians, saw a huge surge in its ranking on Google Play, based on its downloads.
The combined market capitalisation of Adani group companies increased to Rs 15.11 trillion last week. As a result, Gautam Adani's family raced ahead of Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, reclaiming the title of India's wealthiest promoter.
India's largest telecom operator Reliance Jio gained over 79 lakh mobile users in March, comfortably surpassing the combined net adds by rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea during the month, according to data released by TRAI on Friday. Bharti Airtel added 40.5 lakh wireless users, and interestingly Vodafone Idea gained 10.8 lakh customers during March (compared to the previous month). Reliance Jio added a staggering 79.18 lakh wireless subscribers in March, taking its customers base to about 42.29 crore.
The statement came a day after Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Ltd announced a hike in call and data charges from next month.
Tennis queen Sania Mirza looked like a vision as she arrived to attend Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant's Shubh Aashirwad ceremony at the Jio World Centre at the Bandra Kurla Complex, north west Mumbai, on Saturday, July 13, 2024.
The auction of radio waves used for mobile services saw a muted opening on Tuesday, with five rounds attracting bids worth about Rs 11,000 crore from telecom companies. The government has put over 10,500 Mhz spectrum in eight frequency bands -- 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 2,500 MHz, 3,300 MHz and 26 GHz, valued at Rs 96,238 crore at base price, for auction.
At the 45th Annual General Meeting of Reliance Industries (RIL) in August, chairman and managing director (CMD) Mukesh Ambani described the company as an "unputdownable book" with never-ending chapters of success. "Reliance grew from strength to strength because we internalised the founder's mindset of purpose, philosophy and passion," he said. Wednesday marked the 90th birth anniversary of RIL founder Dhirubhai Ambani.
Reliance Industries Ltd on Monday reported a 5 per cent fall in the net profit for the July-September quarter, as weak oil refining and petrochemical business hurt operational performance.
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Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's children -- Isha, Akash and Anant -- on Monday were appointed on the board of his energy-to-technology conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, in what is seen as a clear path of succession planning at India's most valuable company.
A record over Rs 1.5 lakh crore worth of 5G telecom spectrum was sold in a seven-day auction ending on Monday, which saw billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio emerging as the top bidder to consolidate its leadership position. Sources with direct knowledge of the matter said provisional data puts the total bids at Rs 150,173 crore. The mop-up from the 5G spectrum, capable of offering ultra-high speed mobile internet connectivity, is almost double at Rs 77,815 crore worth 4G airwaves sold last year and triple of Rs 50,968.37 crore garnered from a 3G auction in 2010.
Reliance Jio, together with partners, has tested its 5G solutions in India, successfully demonstrating speeds of over 1 GBPS, and its 'Made in India' solution is "globally competitive", RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Thursday. Ambani also exuded confidence that the company will be the first to launch full-fledged 5G services in the country. Jio is not just working to make India '2G-mukt' (free from 2G) but also '5G-yukt' (5G empowered), he added. Jio's engineers have developed a 100 per cent home-grown and comprehensive 5G solution that is fully cloud native, software defined, and digitally managed.
Alphabet Inc's Google has paid Rs 33,737 crore for a 7.73 per cent stake in Reliance Industries Ltd's (RIL) digital subsidiary, Jio Platforms Ltd, joining the list of global investors such as Facebook, billionaire Mukesh Ambani's firm said. The transaction also marks the US technology giant's biggest-ever investment in an Indian company. With this, Jio Platforms has raised a total of Rs 1.52 lakh crore by selling nearly 33 per cent stake to 13 financial and strategic investors in just 11 weeks.
Competition Commission of India on Wednesday said it has approved the merger of the media assets of Reliance Industries and Walt Disney Co to create the country's largest media empire. The deal, announced six months ago, has been cleared by the CCI with certain modifications proposed by the two parties.
At the start of the auction on Sunday, Punjab Kings had the highest funds at Rs 110.5 crore, which decreased to Rs 10.9 crore before Day 2 on Monday.
The incumbents Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea recorded adjusted gross revenue of Rs 10,701.5 crore and Rs 9,808.92 crore, respectively, during the quarter.
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