Reliance copies Facebook's playbook, including antitrust fears

Global tech-giant scrutiny casts shadow on Ambani's growth tactics in India

20201224 reliance and facebook

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, left has formed a partnership with Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook, a deal that critics call anti-competitive. (Source photos by AP and Reuters)

KEN KOYANAGI, Nikkei Asia Editor-at-large

TOKYO -- This year must have been a glorious one for Asia's richest tycoon, Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, India's most valuable listed company and the second-biggest conglomerate by total revenue in the country.

Starting in April, the oil-telecom-retail group won votes of confidence from two American tech giants, Facebook and Google, in the form of strategic investments in Jio Platforms, the group's mobile telecom and internet service subsidiary. Jio also drew backing from renowned private-equity funds, including Silver Lake Partners, KKR, TPG and the investment arms of chipmakers Intel and Qualcomm.

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