Billionaire owned firms begin minting jobs
By siliconindia   |   Monday, 23 March 2009, 21:03 IST   |    3 Comments
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Billionaire owned firms begin minting jobs
New Delhi: Though many billionaires across the world have been made poorer by the recession, they have embraced the situation with a positive stance by embarking on a hiring spree for their businesses. India alone accounts for over one lakh new jobs, nearly half the global figure, being created by the billionaires, who were reported to have lost around two trillion dollars. In a report in its online edition, Forbes has said that a handful of businesses run by billionaires, ranging from internet search giant Google to fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), are bucking the layoff trend and are hanging up 'Help Wanted' signs even in the current dismal state of economy. The latter, run by Swedish billionaire, is also going ahead with plans to open 225 new stores in 2009, which would create 7,000 new jobs. "In 2002, Home Depot, founded by billionaires Bernard Marcus and Arthur Blank, partnered with the US Department of Labor to hire 40,000 associates a year. In 2006, Microsoft added 10,081 worldwide hires, the most in its history," the report said, noting that billionaires have created thousands of jobs over the year. The report did not explicitly mention any Indian billionaires, however, two entities from the business run by Anil Ambani, who was named as the biggest loser of wealth, has plans of recruiting people. Anil Ambani group has plans to hire over 92,000 people in its life insurance business, while it is also looking to bring on board about 1,500 employees in its Reliance Infrastructure unit.