MUMBAI: In Asia's richest family that controls the oil-to-retail Reliance empire, Mukesh Ambani's eldest son Akash is set to take centre stage as their telecoms and digital unit nears a stock market debut.
Akash Ambani, who turned 35 on Friday, is the managing director of Jio Platforms, whose $3.2 billion IPO this week was fully subscribed within two hours of opening for public bidding, a rare feat for an Indian offering of this size.
Though Ambani senior still chairs the holding company Jio Platforms, Akash was anointed chairman of its money-spinning telecoms unit in 2022, in what was widely seen as part of the billionaire’s succession planning.
In a sign of his growing clout, Akash led the pitch at Jio Platforms' IPO event last week where he briefed about the company's 533 million customers and profit margins. While his twin sister shared the stage, their father skipped the event.
"I’m here as a representative of the entire company," he said.
Industry executives who work with Akash described him as an extremely approachable executive who is very hands-on with technology.
While Akash weighs in on "some of the bigger calls", he doesn't interfere in day-to-day business decisions. But he does deal with their most marquee investors including Meta, said one executive, who has worked closely on the IPO and with Akash.
"He is the one who makes the calls to Mark Zuckerberg," the executive added.
Meta is among Jio's largest shareholders with a near 10% stake. In 2020, it joined Google and other global investors in putting 1.52 trillion rupees into the company, worth $20.5 billion at the time.
However, Akash and his father -- who are both night owls -- manage investor relationships separately, the industry executive said. Mukesh is closer to many sovereign wealth funds, while his son takes the position as Reliance's Silicon Valley man.
Reliance and Meta did not respond to Reuters queries.
Creating the Reliance brand
Akash holds a bachelor’s in Economics from Brown University in the US and, as an avid sports enthusiast, plays a key role in the management of an Indian Premier League cricket franchise. Married in 2019, he has two children.
By Thursday, the IPO’s retail portion was fully subscribed, the employee quota drew bids for nearly twice the shares on offer and the existing Reliance shareholders quota was 2.58 times subscribed, exchange data showed.
That interest from small investors is reminiscent of how Akash's grandfather Dhirubhai Ambani, who died in 2002, built Reliance's brand image with shareholders, holding large-scale meets in Mumbai’s open grounds in the 1980s that turned Reliance into a company that helps create long-term wealth.
The conglomerate's Mumbai listed shares - that have a current market capitalization of $172 billion - have risen 330-fold since 1990.
As Akash spoke at the event last week, a garlanded portrait of a smiling Dhirubhai was propped on an easel, while the screen showed black-and-white photos of old shareholder meets.
Just a Telco
Jio's telecoms business was launched in 2016 and disrupted the market by offering free voice and data. Today, on the basis of customers in a single country, Jio's 500 million-plus users are second only to China Mobile.
Jio Platforms says Akash is leading its long-term "strategic roadmap to transform connectivity and digital services in India" from 4G to 5G and now AI. The company offers apps, digital services and home devices, but telecoms still brings in nearly 90% of its $15.45 billion revenue and around 94% of its profit.
Akash and Jio appear keen to dispel the notion that Jio is just a telecoms company.
The first line of the company overview in its prospectus reads: "We are a technology platform." Asked about rivalry with Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, Akash told the Business Standard newspaper recently that "Jio is not just a telco," but a digital services company built on connectivity.
At last week's event, he talked up plans to offer AI-powered call summaries and transcription in 12 Indian languages to Jio’s users, saying, "We’re the only play in town that can do that."
"What we have is an innate understanding of our Jio customers," he said.