Reasons for the decline in RCom chairman Anil Ambani's fortunes

Sudden demise of Dhirubhai Ambani
 
Dirubhai Ambani died due to a stroke in 2002. The brothers got entangled in a bitter battle of ownership of the Reliance empire worth Rs 90,000 crore following which, elder brother Mukesh got the flagship oil business, RIL and IPCL, while Anil received Reliance Infocomm (telecom), Reliance Energy (power), Reliance Capital and Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL).

A decline in wealth
 
In 2007, Anil Ambani had a net worth of $45 bn, according to the Forbes Rich List. His biggest asset was a 66% stake in telecom venture Reliance Communications. In 2019, Forbes valued Anil's net worth at just $1.9 bn.

Collapse of the media venture
 
In 2005, Reliance Capital, an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company, agreed to buy a 51% stake in Adlabs Films, the fast growing entertainment and multiplex company promoted by Manmohan Shetty and Vasanji Mamania, for about Rs 360 crore. By 2008, Anil Ambani became the largest multiplex operator with nearly 700 screens. But by 2014, his media venture collapsed due to excessive losses. Anil had to sell several screens to reduce debt.

Mukesh Ambani wins court battle
 
In 2006, RNRL (Reliance Natural Resources) became a shell company after it lost the court case and vanished from public domain. The contentious issue was the supply of natural gas from RIL's KG D6, in Andhra coast, to RNRL for power generation at a price of $2.34 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) for 17 years. In its verdict in 2009, the Bombay High Court upheld the arguments of Anil's RNRL. But the Supreme Court reversed the order next year and Mukesh won the battle.

Reliance Capital loses TV business
 
In 2016, Anil Ambani's Reliance ADA Group further shrunk its involvement in the Indian media and entertainment industry. In two transactions with a total value of Rs 1872 crore, Reliance Capital would sell the entirety of its remaining TV business to Zee Entertainment and a 49% stake in FM radio operations to Zee Media. The TV businesses under Reliance Big Broadcasting, Big Magic and Azalia Television were sold. The transaction was aimed to reduce the debt burden of Reliance Capital.
 

Anil's entry into the defence sector
 
In 2016, Anil Ambani entered the defence sector by acquiring controlling stake in Gujarat based Pipapav Marine & Offshore which was renamed Reliance Naval and Engineering. The Anil Ambani led Reliance infrastructure shelled out Rs 2,082 crore for the acquisition. The big diversification bet made by Anil Ambani with Reliance Naval failed to cash in. On Dec 28,2015, Reliance Naval had a market cap of Rs 7,240 crore which in 2019 has fallen by 90 per cent to a valuation of Rs 757 crore.

The arrival of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio
 
After the arrival of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, Anil Ambani's flagship company R Com suffered miserably. At its peak in 2008, RCom had a market capitalisation of Rs 1.65 lakh crore. In 2019, RCom has lost more than 98 per cent of its value since its peak.