LAKSHMI MITTAL

'Lakshmi Narayan Mittal'^[1] (or 'Lakshmi Nivas Mittal') ('लक्ष्मी िनवास मित्तल') (born June 15, 1950) is a London-based Indian billionaire industrialist, born in Sadulpur Village, in the Churu district of Rajasthan, India, and residing in Kensington, London. He is the fifth richest person in the world, with a fortune of US$32 billion according to ''Forbes''.^[2][3]
The ''Financial Times'' named Mittal its 2006 Person of the Year. In May 2007, he was named one of the "100 most influential people" by ''Time'' magazine.

Contents

Early years

Career

Today

Personal wealth

Charity

Awards

See also

References

External links

Early years

Lakshmi spent his first years in India, living with his extended family on bare floors and rope beds in a house built by his grandfather. His family, from the Marwari Aggarwal caste, was from humble roots; his grandfather worked for the Tarachand Ghanshyamdas Poddar firm, one of the leading Marwari industrial firms of pre-independence India. They eventually moved to Calcutta where his father, Mohan, became a partner in a steel company and made a fortune.
Lakshmi was a keen student and his classmates knew him as a sharp student who was good with numbers. He graduated at the top from St. Xavier's College in Kolkata with a Bachelor of Commerce degree^[1] in Business and Accounting in 1969.

Career

Lakshmi Mittal began his career working in the family's steelmaking business in India, and in 1976, when the family founded its own steel business, Mittal set out to establish its international division, beginning with the buying of a run-down plant in Indonesia. Shortly afterwards he married Usha, the daughter of a well-to-do moneylender. In 1994, due to differences with his father and brothers, he branched out on his own, taking over the international operations of the Mittal steel business, which was already owned by the family. The family of Mittal never spoke to the public about the reasons for the split, although, there were rumors it was due to financial instablity between the brothers.

Today

Since 2005, Mittal has been the richest person residing in the United Kingdom. He is the President of the Board of Directors and CEO of Arcelor Mittal; Arcelor Mittal is the world's largest producer of low and mid-grade steels, with assets in France, Belgium, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, South Africa, Poland, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Canada and the United States. On July 13, 2005 it was announced that he had donated £2 million to the Labour Party, and on January 16 2007 it was announced that he had donated a further £3 million. Although he has been living abroad for many years, he claims he will remain an Indian. ^[5]

Personal wealth

In March 2007, Mittal was reported the 5th wealthiest person in the world by ''Forbes Magazine'' (up from 61st richest in 2004). The Mittal family owns 44% of Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steel company.^[6]
His residence at 18-19 Kensington Palace Gardens was bought from ''Formula One'' car racing boss Bernie Ecclestone in 2004 for £57.1 million ($105.7 million), the world's highest price ever paid for a house.^[7] Formerly, this house was the residence of Paul Reuter, the founder of the Reuters news service.^[8]
Mittal has two children. His son, Aditya Mittal, is the CFO of Arcelor Mittal. Mittal paid over £30 million to host his daughter Vanisha's wedding celebration in Vaux le Vicomte on 22 June 2004 and an engagement ceremony at the Palace of Versailles on 20 June 2004, the world's most expensive wedding ever. He even hosted a Bollywood night where superstars like Rani Mukerji, Saif Ali Khan, Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai performed. Kylie Minogue also sang on stage.^[9]
Mittal's house in Kensington, London is decorated with marble taken from the same quarry that supplied the Taj Mahal. The extravagant show of wealth has been deemed the "Taj Mittal."^[10]
Recently, Mittal has emerged as a leading contender to buy Barclays Premiership clubs Arsenal, Wigan and Everton, but has so far refused to comment.

Charity

After witnessing India won only one medal, bronze, in the 2000 Olympics, and one medal, silver, at the 2004 Olympics, Mittal decided to set up Mittal Champions Trust with U$9 million to support 10 Indian athletes with world-beating potential.^[11]
For ''Comic Relief 2007'', he matched the money raised (~£1 million) on the celebrity special BBC programme, ''The Apprentice''.

Awards

★ 2006: Person of the Year - ''Financial Times''

★ 2004: European Businessman of the Year - ''Fortune'' magazine

★ 1998: Willy Korf Steel Vision Award - ''American Metal Market'' and ''PaineWeber’s World Steel Dynamics''

★ 1996: Steelmaker of the Year - ''New Steel''

See also

★ Arcelor Mittal

★ List of billionaires

References

1. http://www.investingvalue.com/investment-leaders/lakshmi-mittal/index.htm | Lakshmi Mittal Biography | accessdate=7-21-2007
2. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_Lakshmi-Mittal_R0YG.html
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6571269.stm
4. http://www.investingvalue.com/investment-leaders/lakshmi-mittal/index.htm | Lakshmi Mittal Biography | accessdate=7-21-2007
5. Mittal says he will remain an Indian. - Agarwal Today Special Report
6. Mittal announces bid for rival Arcelor
7. The sale was widely misreported at £70 million, 8M Spend for London House before accurate figures were available from HM Land Registry. Super rich
8. Super rich
9. http://www.weddingsutra.com/community/featured_vanisha_prewed.asp
10. http://www.forbes.com/2007/03/06/estate-rich-home-forbeslife_07billionaires_cz_mw_0308homes.html
11. http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=9054

External links

★ Cleveland News article about Ohio Citizen Action's struggle with one of Mittal's steel mills

★ ArcelorMittal website

★ Article on Mittal with background on Arcelor takeover bid - ''Time''

★ Article on Mittal - Times Online

★ Biography of Lakshmi Mittal

★ Q&A on the "Mittalgate" scandal - BBC News

★ BBC - ""Glimpsing a Fairytale Wedding"" - BBC News

★ Personal information - webindia123.com

★ Amevi - Photo of Mittal's new 80m (262'5") yacht, ranked #32of World’s 100 Largest Yachts 2007 by Power & Motoryacht Magazine

★ Proud to be Indian - Agarwal Today.com Report