Ananda Krishnan

Infobox Person


image_size = 150px
name = T. Ananda Krishnan
birth_date = Birth date and age|1938|4|1|mf=y
birth_place = Kuala Lumpur ,MAS
death_date =
death_place =
known_for =
occupation = CEO, Maxis Communication Berhad.
salary =
networth = gainUS$7.4 billioncite web|title= Forbes List of Billionaire 2007 |author=|coauthor |url=http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_Ananda-Krishnan_YK1N.html|publisher=Forbes |accessdate=2008-05-26]
spouse =
children =
website =
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Tan Sri Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan (Tamil: த. ஆனந்தகிருஷ்ணன்; born 1938) is a Tamil Malaysian of Sri Lankan Tamil origin businessman and philanthropist. Nicknamed TAK, he is currently estimated to have a net worth of US$7.4 billion according to Forbes' latest annual list of billionaires, making him the third wealthiest man in Southeast Asia behind Robert Kuok and Ng Teng Fong and number 119 in the world. Ananda Krishnan is also the wealthiest person with a Tamil background ahead of Shiv Nadar, who is the 10th richest man in India.cite web|title= The World's Billionaires |author=|coauthor |url=http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_The-Worlds-Billionaires-Asia-Australia_6Networth.html|publisher=Forbes |accessdate=2008-05-26]

Ananda Krishnan hates public exposure cite web|title= Who is Ananda Krishnan? |author=|coauthor |url=http://sundaytimes.lk/070527/News/nws14.html|publisher=Sundaytimes |accessdate=2008-05-26] and is known to maintain a very low profile for a person of his stature. However, his hugely successful business activities always thrust him into the limelight and his name represents a huge business empire.

Early life

He was born in 1938 in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur's "Little India" to Tamil parents of Sri Lankan origin. His family originates from Jaffna, Sri Lanka.

Ananda Krishnan studied at Vivekananda Tamil School in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur and furthered his studies at Victoria Institution, Kuala Lumpur. Later, he attended University of Melbourne, Australia for his B.A. (Honours) degree majoring in political science. Following that, Krishnan obtained a Masters in Business Administration at Harvard University, graduating in 1964.cite web|title= Ananda Krishnan |author=|coauthor |url=http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/YK1N.html|publisher=Forbes |accessdate=2008-05-26]

Business

Ananda Krishnan’s first entrepreneurial venture was in oil trading, setting up Exoil Trading, which went on to purchase oil drilling concessions in various countries. Later he moved into gambling (in Malaysia), stud farming (in Australia) and running a Hollywood cartoon studio. Soon, he diversified into a host of other business opportunities. In the early part of the 1990s, he started diversifying, in a big way, into the multimedia arena.

Currently, he has business interests in entertainment, satellite television (Astro), space(MEASAT), shipping, telecommunications (Maxis, Aircel). His Usaha Tegas owns stakes in Tanjong Public Limited Company, which operate the chain of TGV multiplex theatres, oil distribution, power generation plants, property and lottery business (Pan Pools Malaysia).

His companies operate in a most parts of the South East Asia. A quarter of his wealth comes from the gambling business (lottery, horse-racing wagering). He is also said to be behind the world's largest indoor Water Park in Tropical Islands, Germany .He is also pondering an online lottery venture in RussiaFact|date=June 2007.

Said to have an extraordinary entrepreneurial flair and far sighted, it was Ananda who sold former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on the idea of the 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers, the world's second tallest building, which stake he has now sold off.

Multimedia dealings

He first came to prominence by helping to organize the Live Aid concert with Bob Geldof in the mid-1980s. In the early 1990s, he began building a multimedia empire that now includes two telecommunication companies - Maxis Communications and MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems - and has three communication satellites circumnavigating the earth.

He also effected the purchase of 46% of Maxis Communications, the country's largest cellular phone company, from British Telecom and AT&T for $680 million - raising his stake to 70%. Maxis has more than eight million subscribers, with around 40% market share in Malaysia. Recently, Maxis has acquired Aircel, Tamil Nadu's largest cellular phone company and has plans to expand to rest of India. Maxis is also under negotiation to buy over and expand an Indonesian cellular phone company.cite web|title= Debt-shy Asian firms are almost like ATMs |author=|coauthor |url=http://www.livemint.com/2007/06/08001132/Debtshy-Asian-firms-are-almos.html|publisher= |accessdate=2008-05-26]

He is also the head of Astro All Asia Networks Plc, the only company currently providing a DIRECT to HOME TV satellite service in Malaysia. http://www.astroplc.com/05/ (accessed 18th August 2006). It currently broadcasts to Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.

In an agreement between Astro and India's Sun Network, Ananda plans to produce TV channels which cater to the Indian market, especially Tamil diaspora in countries such as US and Europe. Ananda also plans to offer TV services featuring Web-based interactivity.

Ananda Krishnan owns stakes in TVB.com and the Shaw Brothers movie archives.

The new grown in Aircel Telecommunication will bring the bright future and efforts to secure the market in telco industries.

Krishnan owned Usaha Tegas recently bought a 35% stake in Sri Lanka Telecom from NTT of Japan. The sale was temporarily halted earlier after a Sri Lankan lawmaker filed a case challenging it by alleging there was no transparency in the deal. Opposition leaning Sri Lankan press alleged that there was an underhand deal to facilitate the share transaction.

Personal life

Ananda Krishnan has been called everything from a recluse to a humble, silent worker. Not much is known about him and his tightly guarded private life because he maintains such a low profile.He is known to be the cousin of one of Singapore's early billionaires, Mr. Eliyathamby (stated in book, 'early Indian pioneers of Singapore')

He is known to be apolitical.Fact|date=February 2007 But he is also a close friend of both former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Mahathir's former arch-foe Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.Fact|date=February 2007 He brokered the peace deal and healed the political rift between them a few years ago.Fact|date=February 2007

He is also known to be generous and donates to charities and Hindu temples as well as has established scholarships for the deserving. In 2005, local newspapers reported that he had given away over RM160 million to charities through his privately owned Usaha Tegas group of companies. Despite his wealth he continues to reside in his family's "Minangkabau" styled mansion in Kuala Lumpur.

Recent Development

Recently, he was in the news for taking Maxis Communications off the Malaysian Stock Exchange with lucrative buy out of shares from shareholders. Within days, he sold 25% of the company shares to a Saudi Arabian telecommunications company, which caused shock and reverberations throughout the whole Malaysian business community. This is apparently part of Ananda's grand plan to make Maxis a multinational juggernaut in telecommunications.

References

External links

* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/2790027/Malaysian-billionaire-Ananda-Krishnan-bails-out-Johnston-Press.html Malaysian billionaire Ananda Krishnan bails out Johnston Press]

* [http://www.pr-inside.com/malaysia-and-singapore-asian-nations-of-r700593.htm Malaysia and Singapore: Asian Nations of Economic Success by Globalization]

* [http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/leisure/article3867841.ece Malaysian Tycoon Ananda Krishnan reaps £120m from sale of Excel]

* [http://www.stateless.freehosting.net/AnandaKrishnanMalaysianBusiness.htm “Monkey” Business in Malaysia]

* [http://sub.adoimagazine.com/blog/index.php/tag/ananda-krishnan/ WHEN TWO MEDIA TITANS CLASH]

* [http://sirhoe.com/blog/2007/01/18/abdullah-badawi-accepts-rm30-million-yatch-from-ananda-krishnan-says-turky-prime-minister/ Abdullah Badawi accepts RM30 Million yatch from Ananda Krishnan, says Turky Prime Minister]

* [http://competitivemalaysia.blogspot.com/2005/11/ananda-krishnans-empire-missing-link.html Ananda Krishnan's empire missing link]

* [http://books.google.lk/books?id=MrBi0ghiZN0C&pg=RA1-PA62&lpg=RA1-PA62&dq=ananda+krishnan+jaffna&source=web&ots=-Q0K5awa8z&sig=6aqlEWLyZfJ8aoQfUHwklVJvE9c&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result Ananda Krishnan]

* [http://www.networkmalaysia.com/subtitle/article_anandak.htm Ananda Krishnan]

* [http://www.indianmalaysian.com/indian_06-06_anandakrishnan.html T. Ananda Krishnan]