Vijay Mallya (born 18 December 1955) is an Indian liquor baron and Rajya Sabha MP.

The son of industrialist Vittal Mallya, he is the Chairman of the United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines, which draws its name from United Breweries Group's flagship beer brand, Kingfisher.[citation needed] He also co-owns the Formula One team Force India, the Indian Premier League team Bangalore Royal Challengers, and the I-League team East Bengal FC.[3] According to Forbes.com, as of March 2011, Mallya, is worth US $1.4 billion.[4] He is ranked 879 in The Forbes World Billionaires Ranking (2011), and 38th in India. He receives substantial press coverage that focuses on his lavish parties, villas, automobiles, Force India, Royal Challengers Bangalore and his yacht, the Indian Empress.[citation needed]

Member of the Rajya Sabha

2000 2006, 2010 present Constituency Karnataka Personal details Born 18 December 1955 (age 55)Bantwal, Karnataka, India Political party Independent Spouse(s) Sameera (divorced) Children Sidhartha Mallya (Son) Leana Mallya (daughter) Tanya Mallya (daughter) Laila Mallya (step-daughter) Alma mater St. Xavier's College[1] Occupation Chairman of: United Breweries Group, Kingfisher Airlines, Force India F1 Team, Royal Challengers Bangalore, East Bengal FC,[2] URBB As of 3 May 2011

Personal life

Mallya was born into a Konkani Goud Saraswat Brahmin family which originally from the town of Bantwal, near Mangalore, in Karnataka. He is the son of Vittal Mallya and Lalitha Ramaiah.[citation needed] He was educated at La Martiniere for Boys School, Calcutta[5] and completed his degree at St. Xavier's College, Calcutta.[citation needed] He later set up business ventures in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Mallya's first wife was Sameera and they have a son together, named Sidhartha Mallya. Sidhartha was educated at Wellington College in Crowthorne followed by Queen Mary's College in the University of London. Later on, Mallya married Rekha with whom he has two daughters: Leiana and Tanya Mallya. Rekha has a daughter from a previous marriage: Laila.[citation needed]

Business
Breweries
Mallya took over as Chairman of United Breweries Group in 1984 from his father Vittal Mallya. Since then, the group has grown into a multi-national conglomerate of over sixty companies, with an annual turnover which increased by 63.9% over 15 years to US$11.2 billion in 19981999 . The focal business areas of the group encompass alcoholic beverages, life sciences, engineering, agriculture, chemicals, information technology, aviation and leisure.[citation needed] In May 2007, United Breweries Group announced the all-cash acquisition of scotch whisky maker Whyte & Mackay for 595 million (approximately Rs 3000 crore).[6] In 2005 he took over Millennium Breweries Ltd (formerly known as Inertia Industries Ltd), which owned the two premium beer brands named Sandpiper and Zingaro.[citation needed]

Airlines
In 2006, Mallya established Kingfisher Airlines.[7] At present, the airline connects 32 cities. Kingfisher Airlines obtained a 26% stake in Air Deccan, a low cost Indian airline which Mallya later acquired fully and rebranded as Kingfishers Red. Vijay Mallya and his Jet Airways counterpart Naresh Goyal announced an alliance after a marathon meeting on 13 October 2008 at Mumbai, India.[citation needed]

Media
Mallya owns the MarinScope Newspapers which serve Marin County, California where he maintains a home and stores a portion of his car collection.[8]

Investment in sports
Formula One
Vitantonio Liuzzi driving for Mallya's Formula One team, Force India, at the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix. In 2007, Mallya and the Mol family from The Netherlands bought the Spyker F1 team for 88 million euros.[9] The team changed its name to Force India F1 from the 2008 Season.[10]

Team's car VJM-01 was named after its owners Vijay Mallya, Jan Mol and Michiel Mol.[citation needed] Mallya also represents India in the FIA World Motor Sport Council, where he has a seat from 2009 to 2013.[11]

Football
Mallya's United Breweries sponsors the East Bengal and Mohun Bagan football clubs in Kolkata where Mallya spent his childhood.[12] He also was part of the consortium that acquired Queens Park Rangers FC; the consortium also included Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and Lakshmi Mittal.[13] Vijay Mallya has recently indicated his intention to buy AS Bari, a football team which plays in the Italian Serie A.[citation needed]

Cricket
Vijay Mallya is the owner of Royal Challengers IPL team through his flagship firm UB Group. Mallya wanted to associate one of his top-selling liquor brands, either McDowell's No. 1 or Royal Challenge with the team.[8] The latter was chosen, hence the name. The jersey colours of the team are red and golden yellow, the same as the Karnataka state flag,[9] and the logo consists of the RC emblem with "Royal Challengers Bangalore" in standard format.[citation needed]

Political career
Mallya entered politics in 2000 as a member of the Janata Party. His party contested almost all of the 224 seats during the Karnataka State legislative election.[citation needed] He campaigned vigorously through the media, but his party failed to make any impact and did not win a single seat. Following the party's failure in the elections, it has been largely ignored by the media,[14] although Mallya recently became an MP independently.

Auction purchases
Vijay Mallya is noted for his successful bidding in auction of items that are considered of great historical value to India.[15] In 2004, he placed the winning bid of 175,000 for the sword of Tipu Sultan at an auction in London, and brought it back to India.[16] In March 2009, Mallya successfully bid for the belongings of Mahatma Gandhi at US$1.8 million, in a New York auction that initially caused an uproar in India and its government tried and failed to prevent it from going under the hammer

Other businesses

Establishment of Mallya Hospital in Bangalore. The hospital is located on Vittal Mallya Road, named after his father. Helped to fund the Mallya Aditi International School, a private school in Bangalore.

He also owns the popular kunigal stud farm,situated near bangalore. His F1 team Force India, in association with MTV India produced a reality show, MTV Force India The Fast and The Gorgeous in 2009. The show is about 20 gorgeous girls competing to be the face of Force India F1 in the 2009 season[20]. The winners of The Fast and the Gorgeous were supposed to get to travel the world with the team, host the after-parties and appear in the F1 calendar.