Malaysia’s Petronas Towers may be among the tallest structures in the world, but the man chiefly responsible for building them prefers to keep a low profile. Describing Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan (MBA ’64) as an individual who “guards his privacy more jealously than most,” the Sydney Morning Herald (May 28, 2011) quoted him as saying, in a rare and long-ago interview, “Why should somebody be high profile, anyway? I am just doing my job.”

In 1985, however, Krishnan was in the limelight when he helped rocker Bob Geldof organize the Live Aid concert. The concert’s breakthrough use of broadcast and satellite technology “had a clear influence on the man who went on to make billions in Malaysia’s mobile phone, satellite, and pay TV business,” the Morning Herald wrote. Backed by a fortune said to be around $10 billion, Krishnan is now moving into Australia’s media sector. It’s just one industry in a varied portfolio of investments (Thoroughbred horse racing and breeding are a special interest) for a man who has made a reputation based on “his philanthropy, a keen intellect, and a tough business manner.”

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