Here’s a sneak peak at Vijay Mallya’s yacht party aboard the Indian Empress @ Monaco, basically an after-race party at the Monaco Grand Prix on 24th May. Looks like quite a good time eh? Also if you’re wondering um.. but who are these people? Obviously they’re rich and famous (for it!) *sigh* this reminds me of my rich list… Anyway dontchya worry, celebrity 101 aka the “who’s who?” follows here…
Vijay Mallya is an Indian billionaire and Rajya Sabha MP the son of industrialist Vittal Mallya, Vijay Mallya is the Chairman of the United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines, which draws its name from United Breweries Group’s flagship beer brand, Kingfisher.. In 2007, Mallya and the Mol family from The Netherlands bought the Spyker F1 team for 88 million euros. The team changed its name to Force India F1 from the 2008 Season. Team’s car VJM-01 was named after its owners Vijay Mallya, Jan Mol and Michel Mol. As of 2008, Mallya was ranked as the 162nd richest person in the world and the 41st in India with an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion.
How he got rich: Mallya took over as Chairman of the United Breweries Group in 1984. Since then, the group has grown into a multi-national conglomerate of over sixty companies with an annual turnover which has increased by 639% to US$11.2 billion in 1998-1999 . The focal business areas of the group encompass alcoholic beverages, life sciences, engineering, agriculture, chemicals, information technology, aviation and leisure. In 2005, Vijay Mallya established Kingfisher Airlines.
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English industrialist, best known for his Virgin brand of over 360 companies. Richard Branson is the 236th richest person according to Forbes’ 2008 list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of approximately $2.4 billion USD.
How he got rich: Branson’s first successful business venture was at age 16, when he published a magazine called Student. He then set up an audio record mail-order business in 1970. In 1972, he opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores and rebranded after a management buyout as Zavvi in late 2007. With his flamboyant and competitive style, Branson’s Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s — as he set up Virgin Atlantic Airways and expanded the Virgin Records music label.
Flavio Briatore is an Italian businessman. He is managing director of the Renault Formula One team and joint owner of London’s Queens Park Rangers F.C.
How he got rich: He met Luciano Benetton, founder of the Benetton clothing company. The two became friends and eventually business partners. When Benetton opened his first five stores in the United States in 1979, he appointed Briatore as director of the group’s American operations. Due to Benetton’s unorthodox methods of franchising, the chain experienced a brief boom in popularity in the US. By 1989, there were eight hundred stores in the United States. Briatore, having taken a cut of each franchising agreement, became very wealthy.
Raja Dhody Entrepreneur and proprietor of the restaurant Nanking in Delhi.
How he got famous: Enough gossip space has been dedicated over the last two years to the divorce of Raja Dhody and ex-model Queenie Dhody who were married under Islamic law while he was still married to first wife Rita. The last nail in the coffin was a glamorously dressed Queenie on the cover of a magazine, admitting to her new lover Farhad Taraporewala—the ex-husband of her one-time best friend Anju Taraporevala.
Adrian Sutil is a German Formula One racing driver. Sutil continued with the team in 2008 under its new identity as Force India.
How he got famous: Sutil started karting at 14 before moving up to Swiss Formula Ford 1800 in 2002. He won all ten rounds of the season from pole and added five wins in the Formula Masters Austria championship. Sutil speaks fluent German, English, Spanish and a little Italian.
Vitantonio “Tonio” Liuzzi is an Italian Formula One test driver for the Force India Formula One team.
How he got famous: His karting career culminated with winning the Karting World Championship in 2001. In this race he managed to beat Formula One champion Michael Schumacher at Kerpen, the German’s ‘home’ kart track. He was appointed test driver for the Force India F1 team on January 10, 2008
Michael Duane Johnson is a retired United States sprinter.
How he got famous: He won four Olympic gold medals and was crowned world champion eight times. He is the only male athlete in history to win both the 200 m and 400 m events at the same Olympics, a feat he accomplished at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
Gautam Hari Singhania is Chairman & Managing Director of Raymond Limited. Both he and Vijay Mallya are considered to be the more flamboyant Indian tycoons. Gautam Singhania also has a major penchant for big expensive toys, he has a fleet of luxury cars, several yachts (all named after James Bond movies, no kidding!) helicopters, and a private jet.
How he got rich: Singhania joined Raymond Group of Companies in the year 1986. He has been a Director of J. K. Investo Trade (India) Ltd. since June 1990. Singhania was also appointed as Whole-time Director on the Board of Raymond Ltd. in 1990 and was, thereafter, elevated to the position of Managing Director in mid-1999, in charge of all companies and
… subsidiaries of Raymond Group in India and abroad.
Mario Theissen is BMW Motorsport Director and team principal of BMW Sauber, the company’s Formula One racing division.
How he got rich: BMW was credited with having the most powerful engine on the grid. While achieving notable successes, such as a strong championship challenge in 2003. In the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix Robert Kubica led Nick Heidfeld to finish 1 and 2 for the team giving Theissen his first victory for BMW as a constructor.
These are The Kingfisher Girls. They are currently neither rich nor famous. They are hoping however that since they are hot and sexy (hahaha I know, I know I’m such a bitch) they will soon be both (or at the very least in the calendar.) Hey you never know who you meet in first class these days, glamour queens/aspiring socialites Maureen Wadia, Parmeshwar Godrej and Nina Pillai were once Air-India hostesses who met their wealthy future-husbands in-flight! Good luck ladies.