
India's richest men lose billions - habs
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7938646.stm
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Everest
Yeah I find this article meaningless as well. An exceedingly wealthy person
lost half of his wealth and in relative terms to everyone else is still
incredibly wealthy. I'm sure that billionaries in Russia, USA, and Middle East
had similar experiences last year--who cares if the billionaires were from
India?

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irrelative
Indeed. A year ago, Microsoft's stock was around 30$/share, and then this past
year fell to low of about 15$/share. I don't think anyone said anything about
Bill Gates losing almost half of his net worth (which is presumably still
mostly in stock).

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vamsee
I have to say I'm not entirely suprised - Reliance Group companies (owned by
either brother) continue to lose their sheen - they became big players
entirely due their father, Dhirubai Ambani. He's known for his ability to
bribe and corrupt an entire political system and with little competition in
the 'Licence Raj' days (where you basically had to get a 'licence' to start
any business from the govt, often riddled with red-tape).

Now that those days are on their way out, and MNCs giving stiff competition in
virtually all the industries they are involved in, it is time for reckoning, I
guess. Though, it would be remiss to write them off. They're still very rich,
and very powerful (politically).

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dryicerx
Anyone know the cause or reason for their losses? The article is kind of
meaningless without that key information.

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jparise
The original Forbes story has more details:
[http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/10/billionaires-2009-riches...](http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/10/billionaires-2009-richest-
people_Anil-Ambani_VX6G.html)

In short, bad investment performance and scuttled merger plans.

