Biography of Ananda Krishnan

1.0 Biography of Malaysia/Worldwide Billionaire “Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan”

Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan who born on 1938 is a Malaysian businessman and philanthropist of Tamil origin. Nicknamed TAK, he is currently estimated to have a net worth of US$9.5billion according to Forbes’ latest annual list of wealthiest people, making him the first wealthiest in Southeast Asia, and number 93 in the world. Ananda Krishnan shuns public exposure and is known to maintain a low profile for a person of his stature.

Ananda Krishnan was born in 1938 in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur’s “Little India” to Tamil parents, who were Sri Lankan immigrants. He studied at Vivekananda Tamil School in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur and furthered his studies at Victoria Institution, Kuala Lumpur. Later, as a Colombo Plan scholar, he attended the University of Melbourne, Australia for his B.A. (Honours) degree majoring in political science. During that time he boarded in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn. Following that, Krishnan obtained a Masters in Business Administration at Harvard University, graduating in 1964.

Ananda Krishnan has been called everything from a recluse to a humble, silent worker. Not much is known about him and his tightly guarded private life because he maintains such a low profile. He is known to be the cousin of one of Singapore's early billionaires, Mr. Eliyathamby.

He is known to be apolitical. But he is also a close friend of both former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad and Mahathir's former arch-foe Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. He brokered the peace deal and healed the political rift between them a few years ago.

Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan is also known to be generous and donates to charities and Hindu temples as well as has established scholarships for the deserving. In 2005, local newspapers reported that he had given away over RM160 million to charities through his privately owned Usaha Tegas group of companies. Despite his...