BY ARDIAN WIBISONO
Ten years ago Anindya Novyan Bakrie was challenged to turn around Cakrawala Andalas Televisi (ANTV), a struggling Indonesian free-to-air television station with nationwide coverage. Fresh from getting his M.B.A. from Stanford, “Anin” needed to distinguish himself as the eldest son of businessman-turned-politician Aburizal Bakrie, now the 30th-richest man in Indonesia. For all the family’s resources, ANTV was going under, having missed payments on its $128 million in debt.
Anin, now 37, got to work. Starting in 2002 he sent a restructuring proposal to more than 200 creditors and persuaded them to convert their debt into equity. By 2004 he had cut the debt to zero, although it meant cutting the Bakries’ stake from 60% to 21%. He also made content adjustments, changing the mix from generic me-too programming to a focus on family-friendly fare such as quiz shows, children’s shows and soccer matches. In 2005 Anin persuaded media mogul Rupert Murdoch to buy 20% of ANTV for $20 million.
The salvage operation at least kept the lights on. Today ANTV has 7.4% of audience share, putting it eighth among 11 national stations.
Anin says he had an inspiration through those dark days—the late Achmad Bakrie, his grandfather and founder of the Bakrie Group. “We think we’re having a tough time, but he was building the firm in the Japanese-occupation era,” the offspring says. The responsibility of being heir apparent of the Bakrie empire is a constant presence. A picture of Achmad hangs on the wall of Anin’s office in the modest, low-rise Jakarta building where granddad once worked. Significantly, he is not in the modern Bakrie Tower within view, where his family’s main holding company, Bakrie & Brothers, is situated. There, his father and his uncle Nirwan Dermawan Bakrie continue to oversee the empire, which itself has had to do significant financial repairs in the last year.
Anin has added modern touches to his decor, such as track lighting and a Nespresso coffeemaker. But he continues to make his more substantive moves in media.
In 2007 he bought a second TV station, Lativi Media Karya, from businessman and former labor minister Abdul Latief after it became debt-ridden and embroiled in controversy. The station was renamed TV One and repositioned to focus on news for middle-class viewers. Now TV One’s programs have a larger audience than the former number one news channel, Metro TV. Together ANTV and TV One command some 15.6% of gross TV advertising spending in Indonesia.
Anin last year teamed up with entrepreneur Erick Thohir, the younger brother of another of Indonesia’s richest, “Boy” Garibaldi Thohir, to take both TV stations, plus online news portal Vivanews, public. At that vehicle, Visi Media Asia—better known as the Viva group—Anin is chairman and Erick is president director. Floating 14% of the shares, the company secured $73 million in fresh funds, valuing the firm at $482 million. The Bakrie Group maintains a 76% share.
Anin says the Viva group plans to expand free-to-air television, given that 65% of national advertising expenditure, worth around $1.6 billion, is captured by this medium. The group plans more sports programming as well as online subsidiaries, with a capital expenditure exceeding $100 million.
Meanwhile, Vivanews is now ranked third among Indonesia’s news websites based on visitors and page views, according to website ranker Alexa.com, and is available through BlackBerry (still popular in Indonesia) and Android applications. Anin himself is something of a media phenomenon. He maintains his own channel on YouTube and a branded blog, www.aninbakrie.com, on which he touts new media.
While Viva is his latest passion, Anin continues to develop Bakrie Telecom, which he also rescued from near bankruptcy seven years ago. “I took the challenge,” he recalls. Originally named Ratelindo, Anin rebranded it and created the country’s fourth-largest telecom company despite having only a fixed wireless access license since it uses CDMA technology (the first three are GSM with full mobility access).
Being a fixed wireless access provider means Bakrie Telecom’s customers must register if they want to use their cellular phone outside the normal coverage area. This and other drawbacks have led to frequent service complaints. Nonetheless, the subscriber base has grown from below 1 million then to over 15 million last year. Anin aims to be at 30 million within the few years. The secret to this growth has been to offer the lowest rate in the country—one rupiah per second—measured by simple “talk time.” Now Bakrie Telecom generates the highest revenue for the Bakrie Group after its Bumi Resources coal unit.
After the first turnaround Bakrie Telecom may need some additional sprucing up. Last year the company suffered $83 million in losses while revenues slid 0.7%. Fitch Ratings cut the company’s outlook from stable to negative.
Anin’s response has been to expand mobile data services. It has launched the AHA (for “affordable hyperspeed access”) brand, which Anin believes will restore profits as users buy more data (video, Internet access, games, mobile banking) through their phones.
“Annual revenues stand at about $8 billion, and we think we can double that by 2015,” Anin says. “It will grow because of data connectivity. We have at the moment a good 15% of the market share for what I call the first $8 billion, but on the second $8 billion we want to do better than that.” To meet the target, Bakrie Telecom has poured out $400 million in investment in the last three years.
Ultimately, Anin intends to converge the various media and telecom interests. Bakrie Telecom data service can allow customers to access content from media outlets, such as Viva, which can cross-market and share content as well. “If you missed a goal on a match when broadcast, you could still watch it on Vivanews,” he says.
With his rising business profile Anin seems to be growing into his role as the Bakrie ranking scion. He holds more key positions than any of his siblings. His sister Anindhita A. Bakrie is building her career in a unit of Bakrieland, while his brother A. Ardiansyah Bakrie has become a director in the Viva group. Their father—who at 65 has just officially announced he is running for the presidency in 2014—hasn’t spelled out a succession plan.
Governance issues have dogged the Bakrie empire. Anindya says: “It is always a challenge when you have a family that is very dynamic. Sometimes people can’t understand. But we have heard that perception. We don’t necessarily agree, but we take it as input to make sure we strengthen all aspects of the business—not only the results but also the process.”
Adapted from FORBES INDONESIA, a licensee of Forbes Media.
