On June 27, Mukesh Ambani announced his resignation as Reliance Jio’s director. He named his eldest son Akash Ambani as the board chairman.

It has always been widely speculated that Akash, a Brown University graduate, will be promoted. He has participated in a number of business announcements, including the commencement of operations in 2016 and the JioPhone thereafter. Today, Mukesh Ambani passed on the baton.

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The 30-year-old is also acknowledged for performing a crucial part in the landmark agreement between the telco and tech giant Facebook, in which the latter acquired a 9.99% ownership in the company with an investment of almost $44,000 crore.

This action also makes Mukesh Ambani’s well-considered succession plan, which splits his large empire among his children, more apparent. 

Isha, a director of Reliance Retail since 2014, attended Stanford University. She was instrumental in securing numerous brand collaborations and in the creation of the company’s lifestyle portal, Ajio. 

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Isha and Akash have both served as directors for the Jio and retail operations, but today’s action can be seen as an unofficial split. A succession strategy that could prevent a fight similar to the one he got into with his brother, Anil Ambani. 

With battles over assets, defamation lawsuits, public vilification, and other obstacles, the demerger of Reliance and the legal proceedings lasted a long time.

Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, is believed to be a director in Reliance’s solar enterprises but has not yet made an official foray into the business.

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With the next 5G spectrum auctions, Akash will be leading Jio at a crucial point when the telecom industry is ready to advance to the next level. While his father founded the telecom company and its brand, 5G will force him to reorient the company and focus on the consumers.

Further, Akash would need to support Jio in fulfilling its long-overdue goal of 500 million users. Another goal is the initial public sale of the telecom company.