The insatiable investor demand for Elon Musk’s SpaceX will be music to the ears of another billionaire half a world away.
In India, Mukesh Ambani’s digital empire is headed for an initial public offering expected to be the biggest in the nation’s history. Until recently, the tycoon’s team may have wondered if the knock-on effects of the Iran war would choke the liquidity required for Jio Platforms Ltd.’s IPO. But with global institutions writing $10 billion checks for Musk’s rockets and satellites, it’s clear there is no dearth of demand for mega-tech; or for tech-adjacent businesses like Ambani’s data carriage, e-commerce, and media play.
Nor is this euphoria a flash in the pan. The momentum sparked by Alphabet Inc.’s upsized $85 billion equity raise — with OpenAI and possibly Meta Platforms Inc. next in line — suggests the party is far from over.
At its core, Jio is a telecom juggernaut with 525 million subscribers. Were the staggering volume of data they guzzle in a year to be represented by the storage capacity of high-end iPhones, the resulting stack of devices laid on top of one another would leave the earth’s atmosphere. With customers paying 214 rupees ($2.25) a month on average, Jio garners $15 billion in operational revenue, at a 52% Ebitda margin. Street estimates for its worth are clustered around $130 billion.
