An Indian retail billionaire has some ambitious growth plans. Meanwhile Elon Musk is working on a brain-computer interface and Warren Buffett is becoming the face of Coke in China, in our biweekly look at the world of billionaires.
TS Kalyanaraman
Warburg Pincus is increasing its investment in the Indian billionaire TS Kalyanaraman’s Kalyan Jewellers to total 17 billion rupees (Dh971.5 million) as the retailer plans to double its stores globally.
The jewellery manufacturer and distributor, based in the state of Kerala, will increase the number of stores it operates to 200 over the next three years, including entering the new markets of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Singapore and Malaysia, it said in an emailed statement on Monday.
The company has outlets in the UAE in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.
Kalyan didn’t say how much of the company will be owned by Warburg after this round of investment.
In a profile in 2013, Bloomberg wrote that Mr Kalyanaraman “is beloved by his customers and detested by his rivals for bringing transparency to jewellery sales in India, where haggling is the norm.
“He opened a shop in the southern Indian state of Kerala in 1993 and taught customers how to test the purity of their gold to expose cheating craftsmen.
“He was also the first jeweller in town to attach price tags to his gold and gem collection, angering competitors who accused him of ruining the trade.”
Kalyan’s brand ambassadors include the Bollywood elite, including such as Amitabh Bachchan and his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, a former Miss World.
“She is a woman icon,” Mr Kalyanaraman said. “We wanted somebody who wears our jewellery, who endorses our product to be the most beautiful woman in the world.”
Mr Kalyanaraman’s net worth is estimated at US$1.4 billion.
Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen
The billionaire family that owns Lego will be investing more of its money in bricks of another sort: properties in London.
The family’s leader is Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, the grandson of the late Lego founder, Ole Kirk Kristiansen. The younger Kristiansen, 69, is Denmark’s richest man, worth about $5.9bn, according to Bloomberg. He is also chairman of Kirkbi, the $12bn fund that manages the family’s wealth. Kirkbi’s main assets are a 75 per cent stake in Lego as well as the toymaker’s trademarks. It also owns 30 per cent of Merlin Entertainments. The fund has about $1bn in its property portfolio, with holdings in London, Denmark, Switzerland and Germany. The fund’s chief executive believes that Brexit represents a buying opportunity.
“We need to keep finding targets for investments and we feel that Brexit can give some opportunities at attractive prices,” Soren Sorensen, the fund’s chief executive, said in an interview. “For example, London’s property market.”
He said: “Uncertainty is always bad for investments, but on the other hand, we have the financial strength which allows us to dare to take advantage of the opportunities that arise.”
The group’s affiliate Merlin Entertainments manages the Legoland Dubai theme park under a contract with the owner DXB Entertainments.
The Lego founder Ole Kirk Kristiansen was born poor and trained as a carpenter. His wife died and he decided to make wooden toys for his four children. The kids liked the toys so much that he began producing them in bigger numbers. Thus was born a business empire. After he died in 1958, his third son took over the company. The torch has since passed to that man’s second child, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen.
Vorayuth Yoovidhya
On March 30, an heir to the Red Bull fortune won another delay in the charges he is facing over an alleged hit-and-run where a police officer was killed almost five years ago.
Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya has been a no-show for meetings with prosecutors on several occasions, complaining through his lawyer of unfair treatment, or citing duties out of the country. But an Associated Press report that he’s been living lavishly, travelling to Formula One races, snowboarding in Japan and cruising in Venice, has renewed attention on the case.
Mr Vorayuth had been scheduled to meet prosecutors on March 30 but Prayuth Petchkun, the deputy spokesman for the attorney general’s office, said Mr Vorayuth’s lawyer asked for the meeting to be rescheduled to April 27. He said the defendant has something to attend to in England. Prosecutors approved the date change.
The spokesman said the case was moving properly through the legal system. “The reason that we haven’t asked investigators to issue an arrest warrant yet is because the excuses provided each time were not without grounds and we still had to process them for him,” Mr Prayuth said.
In 2012, Mr Vorayuth fled the scene in his Ferrari after allegedly hitting a police officer on motorcycle patrol. Statutes of limitations run out on key charges this year.
The AP used more than 120 social media postings by friends and family to identify his whereabouts.
Mr Vorayuth has failed to show up when ordered to face criminal charges of speeding, hit-and-run and deadly, reckless driving. Police say Mr Vorayuth disputes the reckless driving charge, claiming the officer swerved in front of him. The speeding charge expired after a year. The charge of hit-and-run, which police say carries a penalty of up to six months in jail, expires on September 3. The reckless driving charge, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail, expires after 10 years if left unchallenged.
“The people responsible and the administrative staff are very much aware as to not let the statute of limitations expire,” Mr Prayuth said.
Elon Musk
Electric cars, solar power, rocket ships … clearly Elon Musk likes to have a lot on his plate.
Now he appears to be adding a brain-computer interface.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal late last month, the new venture, called Neuralink, would develop brain implants that can treat neural disorders – and might one day be powerful enough to put humanity on a more even footing with possible future superintelligent computers.
Mr Musk, a founder of the electric-car company Tesla Motors and the space-exploration company SpaceX and the chairman of the power company Solar City, has become an outspoken doomsayer about the threat artificial intelligence might one day pose to the human race. Continued growth in AI cognitive capabilities, he suggests, could lead to machines that can outthink and outmanoeuvre humans with whom they might have little in common.
In a tweet on March 28, Mr Musk gave few details beyond confirming Neuralink’s name and tersely noting the “existential risk” of failing to pursue direct brain-interface work.
Some neuroscientists and futurists, however, caution against making overly broad claims for neural interfaces.
Hooking a brain up directly to electronics is not new. Doctors implant electrodes in brains to deliver stimulation for treating such conditions as Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and chronic pain. In experiments, implanted sensors have let paralysed people use brain signals to operate computers and move robotic arms. Last year, researchers reported that a man regained some movement in his own hand with a brain implant.
Mr Musk’s proposal goes beyond this. Although nothing is developed yet, the company wants to build on those existing medical treatments as well as one day work on surgeries that could improve cognitive functioning, according to the Journal article.
Neuroscientists posit that the technology that Neuralink is working on may indeed come to pass, though it is likely to take much longer than the four or five years Musk has predicted. Brain surgery remains a risky endeavour; implants can shift in place, limiting their useful lifetime; and patients with implanted electrodes face a steep learning curve being trained how to use them.
Mr Musk is worth $14.8bn, says Forbes magazine.
Warren Buffett
The likeness of Warren Buffett is gracing Cherry Coke cans in China, where the company’s largest investor enjoys a legendary reputation.
Coca-Cola announced last weekend that a grinning cartoon portrait of the American businessman would adorn cans and bottles of his favourite flavour after it was introduced in the country on March 10.
Berkshire Hathaway, Mr Buffett’s investment company, is Coca-Cola’s biggest shareholder with a 9.3 per cent stake valued at about $17bn.
“Incidentally, there is no compensation involved,” Mr Buffett said.
The 86-year-old investor and philanthropist has been photographed on numerous occasions taking a swig of Cherry Coke, earning him the title of “best-known fan” from Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola’s chief executive.
* Agencies and The National
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