Reliance Group in India Handles Entire Wedding
Likely to Pursue Local Business Activities After Attending Wedding
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong visited India to attend the wedding of the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man and Chairman of Reliance Industries (66).
According to business circles and local media on the 12th, Chairman Lee is expected to attend the wedding of Anant Ambani (28), the youngest son of the Ambani family, and Radikaa Merchant, who comes from a pharmaceutical conglomerate family, held in Mumbai, India.
Local media and social media posted images of Chairman Lee greeting local employees in Mumbai. He has been closely cooperating with Reliance Group in areas such as supplying telecommunications network equipment. Due to this connection, he previously attended the weddings of Mukesh Ambani’s eldest son and eldest daughter. He was the only Korean businessperson invited. With his attendance at this youngest son's wedding, he has now attended all three of Mukesh Ambani’s children’s weddings.
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong was spotted arriving in Mumbai, India, to attend the wedding of the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man and chairman of Reliance Industries. [Photo by YouTube capture]
Chairman Lee attracted attention in 2019 by wearing traditional Indian attire at the eldest son’s wedding. The wedding was attended by notable figures such as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The 2018 wedding of the eldest daughter was attended by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, James Murdoch, the second son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and pop star Beyonc?.
This wedding of Anant was a lavish event with about 1,200 guests, including CEOs of global companies such as HSBC, Aramco, BP, Lockheed Martin, Ericsson, HP, and GlaxoSmithKline, as well as famous personalities like former Secretary Clinton, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, TV personality Kim Kardashian, and boxing legend Mike Tyson.
At the three-day celebration held in March in Gujarat, western India, pop star Rihanna performed, and guests included Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In May, another three-day celebration continued on a luxury cruise from Italy to France, with 800 guests invited. On the 5th, another celebration held in Mumbai featured a performance by global pop star Justin Bieber.
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong attending the wedding of Ambani Chairman's eldest son in 2019, wearing traditional Indian attire. [Photo by Shin Bong-gil, former Ambassador to India, Facebook]
It is expected that Chairman Lee will engage in local business activities following the wedding. Samsung Electronics has been emerging as a strong player in the network business by supplying 5G equipment in India.
Previously, Samsung Electronics exclusively supplied 4G LTE network equipment to Jio, a subsidiary of India’s Reliance Group, in 2012. After officially starting network construction in 2014, it completed India’s first nationwide 4G LTE network within two years. Additionally, between 2021 and 2022, Samsung signed a 1 trillion won contract to supply 5G equipment to Jio and Bharti Airtel, the first and second largest operators in India.
Meanwhile, according to Forbes, Chairman Ambani currently has a net worth of $116 billion (approximately 160 trillion won), ranking 9th globally and the richest in Asia. Reliance Industries, led by him, is a conglomerate generating over $100 billion in annual revenue across diverse sectors ranging from oil and gas to telecommunications and retail. Chairman Ambani has begun passing on management rights to his two sons and daughter. Eldest son Akash Ambani oversees the telecommunications division, daughter Isha Ambani manages retail, and the youngest son and groom Anant Ambani has entered the new energy business.
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