Business of cricket: Ambani, Mallya, SRK, and Preity Zinta win IPL bids
24 Jan 2008
Mumbai: BCCI's high-profile Indian Premier League (IPL) received an overwhelming response from celebrities and industrialists, with the likes of Mukesh Ambani, Vijay Mallya, and Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta winning bids to own teams in the BCCI Twenty20 venture.
Lalit Modi, chairman of IPL's Governing Council and BCCI's vice president announced the names of the winning bidders, who have paid astronomical amounts to own city-based teams.
Reliance's chief Mukesh Ambani outpaced Vijay Mallya in the race for the Mumbai team, which was sold for $111.9 million. Mallya is now the proud owner of the Bangalore team, which came at a price of $111.6 million.
Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan partnered with Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta for the Kolkata team, tagged at $75.09 million. Preity Zinta and boyfriend Ness Wadia now own the Mohali team for $76 million.
Other winning bidders include GMR Holdings, who won the Delhi team ($ 84 million), India Cements, who won the Chennai team ($91 million), Deccan Chronicle, who won the Hyderabad team ($107.01 million), and Emerging Media won the bid for the Jaipur team for $67 million.
Bids from ICICI, Sahara and Future Group were disqualified, according to Modi.