He hates public exposure and
maintains a very low profile. However, his hugely
successful business activities always thrust him into
the lime light. For the sixty four year old
Tatparanandam , it is difficult to remain anonymous,
when Malaysian Business Magazine has ranked him as the
richest man in Malaysia. Still very little is known
about this ethnic Indian who has settled in Malaysia.
Ananda Krishnan studied in Vivekananda Tamil
School in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Later, he
attended the University of Melbourne for B.A. (Honours)
degree. After that Krishnan attended the Harvard
University for a Masters in Business
Administration in 1964. After his masters, Ananda
Krishnan’s first entrepreneurial venture is into
oil trading. 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
multimedia arena. Currently, he has
business interests in entertainment, space, oil,
power, shipping, telecom, property and
gaming. |
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| Photo
Courtesy: business asia |
His companies operate in
a most parts of the South East Asia. At present Forbes
magazine reckons his net worth to be about 1.3 billion
dollars.
A quarter of his wealth
comes from the gambling business (lottery, horse-racing
wagering). Although he may not be known for
his business activities, most Malaysians relate him to
Petronas Twin Towers, world’s tallest buildings. For
them, he is man who built the twin towers and made them
famous globally.
Besides building the
world’s tallest buildings, Krishnan has done many
other awesome things. Krishnan’s telecommunications
companies – Maxis Communications and MEASAT Broadcast
Network Systems - has two communication satellites
circumnavigating the earth. Maxis Communications Bhd,
Malaysia’s biggest cellular phone company, has more
than 2 million subscribers. It has cornering more than
30% market share in Malaysia.
MEASAT Broadcast Network
Systems Sdn Bhd offers direct to home 30 television
channels and 16 radio channels in digital format. His
communications company is placing a lot of emphasis to
enable betting through a mobile phone. Besides beaming
entertainment programs through the satellite, Krishnan
also has a string of multiplex theaters in Malaysia and
offers movies on the bigger screen. Krishnan’s
entertainment company holds more than 800 movie titles.
His company is planning to launch a Mandarin Language
movie channel. Krishnan has an investment vehicle -
Usaha Tegas Entertainment Systems Sdn Bhd – through
which he routes his investments. Krishnan is a close
friend of Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. |
