When America’s King of Steel, immigrant Scot Andrew Carnegie, sold Carnegie Steel to J.P. Morgan more than 100 years ago, for $480 million, the renowned financier told him, “Congratulations, Mr. Carnegie, you are the richest man in the world.”
Carnegie who had grown up in poverty in Scotland to become one of America’s most ruthless and successful businessmen, became a philanthropist and funded about 3,000 libraries around the world, including several in Ireland.
Today, says Finfacts Ireland, the world has a new King of Steel with a global presence. Lakshmi Mittal was born poor in a small Rajasthani town in north-western India. He spent his first years in Sadulpur, living with his extended family on bare concrete floors and rope beds in a house built by his grandfather.
Lakshmi Mittal, the world’s third richest man, on Sunday sealed his position as the global steel industry’s key player by winning rival steelmaker Arcelor, ending a bitter five-month takeover battle that was sometimes infused with racist overtones. On Sunday, Arcelor agreed to a revised offer from Mittal Steel worth 25.6 billion euros ($32.2 billion).
The Indian-born steel tycoon, Lakshmi Mittal, is now the third richest person in the world, trailing only the Microsoft chief, Bill Gates, and the U.S. investment guru, Warren Buffett. Forbes.com says Mittal is now worth $23.5 billion.
“Mittal Steel and Arcelor were already the world number one and two. As Arcelor-Mittal, Lakshmi Mittal will run a steel company three times the size of its nearest rival,” says Reuters.
“Mittal, 56, who made his multibillion dollar fortune by leading consolidation of the steel industry, has said acquiring rival steelmaker Arcelor would mark a step change in the process, creating a behemoth with 10 percent of world volume.
“Lakshmi Nivas Mittal, named after the Hindu deity of prosperity and wealth, started work in his father’s mill in Calcutta at a time when many had written the steel industry off.
“He went on to make his fortune by transforming ailing steel mills around the globe into money spinners by cutting costs, exploiting economies of scale, and selling higher-value products into a growing market.”
Mittal’s taste for ostentation is wellknown and generally looked down upon by Europe’s top industrial houses. In 2004, he bought a 12-bedroom mansion in Kensington for 70 million pounds. He spent an estimated 80 million euros on his daughter Vanisha’a wedding.
The venues for the wedding? The awesome Palace of Versailles, where the French ‘Sun King’ Louis XIV held court in the 17th century and the 17th-century Vaux le Vicomte, acknowledged as ‘the finest chateau and garden’ in France.
Mittal steels has assets in Romania, South Africa, the United States, Poland, France, Indonesia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.