What is Anant Ambani’s net worth?

Anant Ambani is the son of India’s billionaire business tycoon Mukesh Ambani, who Forbes India notes is Asia’s richest man. Mukesh has a net worth of $92.2 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant married last year, in what has been described as India’s “wedding of the year”.

The pre-wedding celebrations that took place between March and July gained global attention, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft founder Bill Gates rubbing shoulders while Rihanna performed her biggest hits. A local airport in Gujarat was granted temporary international status to accommodate the guests. To top the celebrations off, there was a $900 million cruise sailing between Palermo and Portofino in Italy.

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The couple tied the knot on 12 July, and the wedding’s star-studded guest list included some of the richest people in the world, such as Kim Kardashian, David Beckham. Former British prime ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson were also in attendance.

The events gave the world a sneak peek into the opulent lifestyle of the Ambani family. We look at how Anant Ambani built his fortune, his father’s investments and the factors contributing to his net worth today.

How rich is Anant Ambani?

Anant Ambani’s net worth is close to $40 billion (£31 billion), according to DNA India.

He is the youngest son of the Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and Nita Ambani. Most of Anant’s fortune comes from inheriting Mukesh’s dizzying wealth and his booming Indian empire. Anant, 29, is one of the most prominent businessmen of his generation and one of the wealthiest young people in the world.

Following in the footsteps of his older siblings, Isha and Akash, Anant went to college in the US and earned his degree from Brown University.

Since 2020, Anant has been making a fortune with his roles in the Reliance empire, by being a director of Reliance’s energy business and spearheading its green energy operations with an aim to become a net carbon zero company by 2035.

According to Reliance’s annual report for the financial year of 2024, the company has made a profit of $9.5 billion after tax, which is just a teaser to the family fortune.

He is also the director of the multinational tech company Jio Platforms Limited, which is valued at around $107 billion (or £82 billion), according to the Bank of America.

Other factors contributing to Anant Ambani’s net worth include owning the Indian Premier League team Mumbai Indians, one of the most successful cricket teams in the league.

You may be wondering who Radhika Merchant, Anant’s wife, is. She is a businesswoman and the daughter of tycoon Viren Merchant, CEO of private pharmaceutical company Encore Healthcare, and his wife Shaila Merchant. Radhika is a board member of the company. Her family’s estimated net worth is $90 million, according to the Times of India.

Inside the Ambani family’s expansive fortune  

Each member of the Ambani family holds a stake in Reliance.

Both Mukesh and Nita Ambani, along with the three siblings, own 0.12% each. Kokilaben Ambani, the mother of Mukesh and his siblings, owns the highest stake of 0.24%. Her husband Dhirubhai Ambani – who died in 2002 – was the founding figure of the Reliance empire in 1958.

The family’s wealth does not end there. The Ambanis live at Antilia, the second most expensive private residence in the world after Buckingham Palace. It is a 27-storey tower that cost around £1.6 billion to build, which has famously been called the world’s first billion-dollar home.

While you may be thinking that last year’s wedding celebrations were a one-off, they certainly weren’t the only events by the Ambanis to create a lot of press. The Ambani siblings have had their fair share of opportunities to bring together some of the world’s biggest pop icons and global personalities.

In 2018, Anant Ambani’s sister Isha married billionaire Ajay Piramal’s son Anand and had Beyoncé perform at their pre-wedding bash in Udaipur, India. Chris Martin of Coldplay and The Chainsmokers performed at Akash Ambani and Shloka Mehta’s pre-wedding party in Switzerland in 2019.

The family’s wealth and influence extend far beyond mere financial success. Mukesh Ambani’s wife Nita Ambani is more focused on the non-profit side of the business. She was the first Indian woman to be part of the International Olympic Committee in 2016 and she launched the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai in 2023.

Her work also includes being the chairperson and founder of Reliance Foundation, one of the largest non-profit foundations in the country. The charity promotes sustainable growth in India and has supported schools, hospitals and cultural centres, and established the country’s first registered Braille newspaper.

What UK business do the Ambanis own?

The family business includes various big-name ventures that you may be familiar with. In 2019, Reliance bought toy retailer Hamleys and, in 2021, it bought the historic British private sporting estate, Stoke Park, for £57 million. Meanwhile, Reliance’s retail subsidiary is now an exclusive partner with fashion e-tailer ASOS, successfully bringing the e-tailer to India.

Reliance also attempted to acquire one of Britain’s largest pharmacy retailers, Boots, submitting a bid of around $7.2 billion. However, it was unsuccessful as Walgreens, which owns a majority stake in Boots, withdrew its sale offer stating that none of the bids received adequately reflected the high potential value of the company.