Vijay Mallya
Vijay Mallya | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Rajya Sabha | |
| In office 2000–2006, 2010 – present | |
| Constituency | Karnataka |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 18 December 1955 Calcutta, West Bengal, India |
| Political party | Independent |
| Spouse(s) | Sameera,Rekha Mallya |
| Children | Siddharth Mallya (Son) Leana Mallya (daughter) Tanya Mallya (daughter) Pragas Mallya Laila Mallya (step-daughter) |
| Alma mater | St. Xavier's College[1] |
| Occupation | Chairman of: United Breweries Group, Kingfisher Airlines, Force India F1 Team, |
As of 4 May 2011 Source: Government of India | |
Vijay Mallya (born 18 December 1955 in Calcutta , now Kolkata ,West Bengal ) is an Indian liquor and airline baron. The son of industrialist Vittal Mallya, he is the chairman of the United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines. His United Spirits is world's second largest liquor maker, by volume. Mallya is also an MP in the Indian Rajya Sabha.
He also co-owns the Formula One team Force India, the Indian Premier League team Bangalore Royal Challengers,the I-League teams Mohun Bagan A.C and East Bengal FC.[3]
According to Forbes, his personal wealth is estimated to be $1.4 billion.[4] Mallya receives substantial press coverage that focuses on his lavish parties, villas, automobiles, Force India, Royal Challengers Bangalore and his yacht, the Indian Empress.[5]
Personal life
Vijay Mallya is the son of Vithal Mallya, an industrialist.[6] He was educated at La Martiniere Calcutta, where he was a House Captain in the '72 batch, and at St. Xavier's College, Calcutta,[1] which he graduated from in '75 with a B. Comm degree. He later set up business ventures in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Mallya's first wife was Sameera and they have a son together, named Siddharth Mallya. Siddharth Mallya was educated at Wellington College in Crowthorne followed by Queen Mary College, University of London. Later on, Mallya married Rekha with whom he has two daughters: Leiana and Tanya Mallya. Rekha has a daughter from a previous marriage: Laila. [citation needed] In 2008, he had his home demolished in order to build a new residence, Kingfisher Towers, in UB City, Bangalore.[7]
Business
Breweries
Mallya took over as Chairman of United Breweries Group in 1984 from his father Vithal Mallya. Since then, the group has grown into a multi-national conglomerate of over sixty companies, with an annual turnover which increased by 63.9% over 15 years to US$11.2 billion in 1998–1999 . The focal business areas of the group encompass alcoholic beverages, life sciences, engineering, agriculture, chemicals, information technology, aviation and leisure.[citation needed] Vijay Mallya is also chairman of South African company, United National Breweries, a company that specializes in making traditional sorghum beer.
In May 2007, United Breweries Group announced the all-cash acquisition of scotch whisky maker Whyte & Mackay for £595 million (approximately Rs 3000 crore).[8] In 2005 he took over Millennium Breweries Ltd (formerly known as Inertia Industries Ltd), which owned the two premium beer brands named Sandpiper and Zingaro.[citation needed]
Airlines
In 2003, Mallya established Kingfisher Airlines.[9] At present, the airline connects 32 cities. Kingfisher Airlines obtained a 26% stake in Air Deccan, a low cost Indian airline which Mallya later acquired fully and rebranded as Kingfishers Red which was later shutdown in 2011 due to financial issues. Vijay Mallya and his Jet Airways counterpart Naresh Goyal announced an alliance after a marathon meeting on 13 October 2008 at Mumbai, India.[citation needed]Vijay Mallya and his Virgin Atlantic Airways counterpart Dr Rohit Munjal Upcoming CNMD who is also the nephew of Mr Mallya will sooner announce as an alliance after 23 April 2012 at Delhi, India.[citation needed]
Media
Mallya owns the TATA industries Newspapers which serve Marin County, California where he maintains a home and stores a portion of his car collection.[10]
Investment in sports
Formula One
In 2007, Mallya and the Mol family from The Netherlands bought the Spyker F1 team for 88 million euros.[11] The team changed its name to Force India F1 from the 2008 Season.[12] Team's car VJM-01 was named after its owners Vijay Mallya, Jan Mol and Michiel Mol.[citation needed]
Mallya also represents India in the FIA World Motor Sport Council, where he has a seat from 2009 to 2013.[13]
Cricket
Indian Premier League is a cricket tournament being organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and backed by the International Cricket Council (ICC).[2] For the inaugural tournament held in Apr–Jun 2008, the BCCI had finalised a list of 8 teams who will be participating in the tournament. The teams representing 8 different cities of India, including Bangalore, were put up on auction in Mumbai on 20 February 2008 and the Bangalore team was won by Vijay Mallya, who paid US$111.6 million for it. This was the second highest bid for a team in the IPL, next only to Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries' bid of $111.9 million for the Mumbai team. Bollywood actresses Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone, and Sandalwood film stars Ramya and Puneeth Rajkumar are the brand ambassadors of the team.
Football
Mallya's United Breweries sponsors the East Bengal and Mohun Bagan football clubs in Kolkata where Mallya spent his childhood.[14]
He also was part of the consortium that acquired Queens Park Rangers FC; the consortium also included Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and Lakshmi Mittal.[15]
Corporate Sponsorship
UB Group sponsors many sports events and teams such as:
- Signature Golf Tournament - Indian Golf Tournament.
- Mohun Bagan A.C. - I league Team
- Kingfisher Derby Team - Horse Racing
- East Bengal Club - I league Team
- Royal Challengers Bangalore - IPL Team
- Force India - Formula One Team
Political career
Mallya entered politics in 2000 as a member of the Janata Party. His party contested almost all of the 224 seats during the Karnataka State legislative election.[citation needed] He campaigned vigorously through the media, but his party failed to make any impact and did not win a single seat. Following the party's failure in the elections, it has been largely ignored by the media,[16] although Mallya recently became an MP independently.
Auction purchases
Vijay Mallya is noted for his successful bidding in auction of items that are considered of great historical value to India.[17] In 2004, he placed the winning bid of £175,000 for the sword of Tipu Sultan at an auction in London, and brought it back to India.[18] In March 2009, Mallya successfully bid for the belongings of Mahatma Gandhi at US$1.8 million, in a New York auction that initially caused an uproar in India and its government tried and failed to prevent it from going under the hammer.[19][20][21]
Other businesses
- Establishment of Mallya Hospital in Bangalore. The hospital is located on Vittal Mallya Road, named after his father.
- Helped to fund the Mallya Aditi International School, a private school in Bangalore.
- He owns a TV channel called NDTV Good Times.
- He also owns the popular kunigal stud farm, situated near Bangalore.
- His F1 team Force India, in association with MTV India produced a reality show, MTV Force India The Fast and The Gorgeous in 2009. The show is about 20 gorgeous girls competing to be the face of Force India F1 in the 2009 season.[22] The winners of The Fast and the Gorgeous were supposed to get to travel the world with the team, host the after-parties and appear in the F1 calendar.
References
- ^ a b St. Xavier's College, Kolkata
- ^ Forbes http://www.forbes.com/profile/Vijay-Mallya.
{{cite news}}: Missing or empty|title=(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) [dead link] - ^ "#60 Vijay Mallya". Forbes. 18 November 2009.
- ^ Vijay Mallya, World's Billionaires, Forbes.com accessed March 2010
- ^ "Kingfisher Airlines crisis: I will bounce back, says Vijay Mallya". The Times Of India. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
- ^ 'Vijay Mallya: The spirit shall prevail'. The Times of India online edition, 22 April 2002.
- ^ "He planned to build white house in the sky in UB city(Begaluru)". Indiavision news. Oct. 18, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ BBC News: Whisky giant sold to billionaire
- ^ "#937 Vijay Mallya". Forbes. 10 March 2010.
- ^ Vijay Mallya's Car Collection
- ^ Rediscover Formula One | Vijay Mallya bids for Formula One Team Spyker
- ^ Rediscover Formula One | Spyker is now officially FORCE INDIA formula one team
- ^ "FIA Elects World Council Members". fia.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 23 October 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
- ^ "Mallya sore with Bagan brawls". Financial Express. 3 October 2004. Retrieved 21 February 2008.
- ^ "Indian Formula One high roller joins Ecclestone and Briatore's party at Queens Park Rangers". Daily Mail.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Interview with vijay mallya – 1". Mumbaimirror. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
- ^ Singh, Kishore (10 December 2009). "In search of Tipu's wealth". Business Standard. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
- ^ Habib Beary, "Tipu's sword back in Indian hands", BBC News, 7 April 2004.
- ^ India 'helped win Gandhi auction', BBC News, 5 March 2009
- ^ Gandhi items 'to return to India', BBC News, 5 March 2009
- ^ Buyer will return Gandhi's personal items to India, Rama Lakshmi, The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 March 2009
- ^ http://mtv.in.com/fg/
External links
- Profile at UB Group
- Profile at Forbes
- Profile at The Daily Telegraph
- Vijay Mallya collected news and commentary at The Times of India
- Interview with Vijay Mallya CNN — November 28, 2007.
- Use dmy dates from August 2011
- People from Bangalore
- Indian chief executives
- Indian politicians
- Indian motorsport people
- 1955 births
- Living people
- Indian billionaires
- Members of the Rajya Sabha
- Formula One team owners
- Indian Premier League franchise owners
- Mangaloreans
- People from Dakshina Kannada
- Racehorse owners and breeders
- St. Xavier's College, Mumbai alumni
- La Martiniere College alumni