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Right on the rhythm: The international

king of nightlife has his eyes on India 

Michael Ault is the reigning king of international nightlife and he has big plans for IndiaBy Pranbihanga Borpuzari

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31 October 2013

It is another one of those stories that should make no sense. How exactly did one of the world’s biggestnightlife stories start out within the four walls of densely academic and stiff institutions such as theUniversity of Oxford and the London School of Economics and Political Sciences?

Boss of the night: Michael Ault

Michael Ault, arguably the biggest nightclub owner in the world, tells us that this story started in collegethe way it does for everyone in college—in the haze and craze of parties. “All my student life, I wasthrowing parties. I lived a dual life. I was a good student during the day and throwing mad parties at night,”says 50-year-old Ault.

Throwing good parties came naturally to him as he grew up watching his parents hold charity events andballs in New York, where he was born and brought up. That trait got further nurtured in England, where hehad a short stint with legendary nightclub owner Peter James Stringfellow. However, the education he got

meant that it was never going to be easy just dropping into the nightclub scene. He first went back to NewYork and worked in Wall Street for about six years even as he kept promoting parties on the side for someof the Big Apple’s bigger clubs. Making the side gig his main gig happened in 1985, when he picked upequity in the Surf Club, New York. In 1991, Ault started the Merc Bar in New York, which was a runawaysuccess. Over the next four to five years, he started spreading out and had about 30 clubs in New York,

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always be run with the same basics as any other business in any other sector. Pangaea maybe targeting thewealthy but it’s not generous with its own ways. “Over the years, we have developed systems andprocedures which keep a tight check.” He says his clubs put deep thought into buying and pricing the liquorand how to have full houses. It’s a high risk business and not for everyone, he indicates.