The Game Changer

Months before Reliance Industries announced that Facebook would buy a 9.99 per cent stake in Jio Platforms — the holding company of its digital businesses — for ₹43,574-crore, both companies were at loggerheads. In January last year, at the 9th Vibrant Gujarat Summit, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries (RIL), advocated protecting India’s data from global corporations. In September, Facebook’s Global Affairs VP, Nicholas Clegg, countered that asking India to allow free flow of data across borders.

Seven months later, Ambani has joined hands with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to collaborate on the vast data both collect in their ventures. So, what could have prompted both billionaires to come together?

Analysts call it a “marriage of convenience” – where each partner brings something to the table