Lakshmi Mittal - From empty hands built a giant steel empire

Lakshmi Mittal is an Indian industrialist, steel magnate and billionaire. He is the 70th richest person in the world with a fortune of up to 14.4 billion USD as announced by Forbes magazine.

Lakshmi Mittal (born June 15, 1950) is the Chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal (ADR), the world's largest steel manufacturing company. Mittal is also Honorary Director of Goldman Sachs, EADS and ICICI Bank, and Vice President of the World Steel Association. Mittal owns a 38% stake in ArcelorMittal and holds a 34% stake in Queens Park Rangers FC.

This Indian-born steel magnate was once considered the richest man in the UK for many years in a row. He is also the second richest person in Europe and sixth in the top richest people in the world voted by the Sunday Times in 2011. His fortune at that time was estimated at 31 billion USD.

However, due to the sharp decline in share prices over the years, Mittal's assets suffered a sharp decline. By 2014, he had only $17 billion left, and according to Forbes, as of July 20, 2015, Mittal's net worth was only $12.5 billion. However, after all efforts, by 2020, from a starting line of almost nothing, Lakshmi Mittal owns a net worth of nearly $48 billion.

He was born into a merchant family in Safalpur, a lonely village without electricity in the state of Rajasthan. Lakshmi Mittal graduated from the University of Calcutta. His father, Mohan Lal Mittal, was the owner of the steel business Nippon Ispat Denro. Growing up in such a family, the eldest son Lakshmi Mittal also inherited the business gene from his father. From a young age, Lakshmi Mittal worked 18 hours a day to promote the family business as well as complete her studies.

He started his career at his father's small Ispat Steel Company in Calcutta in the early 1970s. But where Mittal found his way to success was the international market. Due to strict restrictions on domestic steel production by the Indian government, in 1976, Mittal went to Indonesia to establish Ispat Indo, a medium-sized factory specializing in the production of steel from scrap. He was only 20 years old then.

In 1995, the company's main office was moved from Indonesia to London. There, Mittal established Mittal Steel through the merger of Ispat International NV and LNM Holdings NV. The company's shares are registered on the New York and Amsterdam stock exchanges.

In 2000, with an estimated fortune of £2.2 billion, he was ranked fourth on the Sunday Times' list of the richest people. However, in the ranking list published in March 2001, he dropped to 17th. The reason was that at that time, the supply in the steel industry exceeded demand.

In August of that year, Mittal's Ispat factory in Ireland had to close due to a loss. But only in November, he thought about buying the state-owned steel producer Sidex in Romania. At this time, his influence in England was at its peak. So the British Prime Minister wrote to the Romanian Government calling for support for Mittal's transaction.

Despite its success in business and career development, many times Mittal has been entangled in lawsuits due to production activities affecting the environment. In 2001, a steel mill of Mittal was forced to close down when it was sued by surrounding residents for polluting the environment. In court, Mittal had to pay £70 million to clean the air at the steel mill site. Although the matter was later resolved peacefully, the company's stock was hit quite hard.

After many efforts, Mittal Steel has become the second largest steel producer in the world, after the Luxembourg-based Arcelor Company. But he doesn't seem to want to be second. At the end of 2004, Mittal announced that his company would spend $4.5 billion to acquire International Steel Group (ISG), a US steel producer in bankruptcy proceedings.

If successful with this deal, Mittal Steel will become the largest steel company in the world. At that time, the company's annual output will increase from 48 million tons to 70 million tons of steel, accounting for 6% of the world steel market share. The industry remains highly segmented. The top three steel producers account for only 15% of global production.

Mittal Steel's revenue in 2011 increased 45% to $32 billion. Completing the acquisition of ISG also increased the company's workforce to 165,000. Then, in Kazakhstan alone, Mittal Steel employed 50,000 people. Mittal said he will cut 45,000 jobs by 2010 to keep his business more profitable. In 2011, Mittal and his family owned 97% of the company. After that, his family plans to sell off 11% of the shares, worth about 2 billion USD, reducing the number of shares owned to 86%.

Since 2004, steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has been playing the game by buying the world's most expensive house worth £70 million ($128 million). The mansion has 12 rooms, formerly owned by Formula 1 racing car owner B.Ecclestone bought for £ 50 million. The house has many Turkish-built bathrooms, a ballroom and a lavishly decorated swimming pool.

Lakshmi's house is located near the late Princess Diana's Kensington Palace and the Sultan of Brunei's palace. The house was scaled up by the famous Iranian art collector David Khalili in the 90s, with the foundation and columns lined with the same stones used to inlay the famous Taj Mahal in India.

The house is 55 times larger than ordinary houses and includes a garage that can hold up to 20 cars at a time. The security of the house is placed under the control of 65 most modern cameras. In addition to this house, billionaire Mittal also owns another luxury house worth £9 million ($16 million) called the Summer Palace at Bishop Avenue in Highgate, North London.

Lakshmi Mittal also supported the UK's ruling Labor Party with £125,000 ($229,000) during the 2001 election campaign. Before that, in 1997 he also donated £16,000 ($29,000). He also made a generous donation to Prince Charles' charities. Lakshmi never passed up opportunities to show off her wealth.

Last summer, he organized a wedding for his daughter Vanisha (23 years old) quite lavishly. The wedding reception was held at the chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte in the 17th century after the marriage ceremony had taken place at the Palace of Versailles. The total cost of this lavish fun sounds like up to 30 million pounds (55 million USD). Before that, the wedding of his son Aditya in Calcutta 4 years ago was equally luxurious.

Joining the wedding party was the appearance of elephants clad in rare jewelry and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan with a £300,000 ($550,000) paycheck for a simple dance. This grand wedding ceremony caused widespread traffic jams in Calcutta.

In addition to the complaints about the luxurious life, Mittal received many compliments for her charitable activities. In 2008, Mittal donated £15 million to fund the Great Ormond Street Hospital children's medical center in London. In addition, he has made many other contributions to education and supporting the poor both in Britain and India.

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