New Delhi: In a historic move that reshapes the Indian entertainment landscape, Reliance Industries, Viacom18 Media, and The Walt Disney Company officially announced their merger on November 14, 2024. The joint venture, valued at a staggering Rs 70,352 crore, is poised to revolutionize the industry.
A Powerful Leadership Team
At the helm of this new venture is a formidable leadership team. Nita Ambani will serve as the Chairperson, while Uday Shankar, a seasoned industry veteran, will take on the role of Vice-Chairperson, providing strategic guidance.
To drive the diverse operations of the joint venture, three CEOs have been appointed:
- Kevin Vaz: Overseeing the entertainment sector across all platforms.
- Kiran Mani: Managing the combined digital operations.
- Sanjog Gupta: Heading the sports division.
Key Roles and Responsibilities
A talented team of executives has been assembled to support the three CEOs and execute the strategic vision. Key roles and responsibilities include:
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- Ambuj Kashyap: Working directly with Uday Shankar and partnering with CEOs on strategic and business initiatives.
- Rasesh Upadhyay: Driving entertainment business strategy and operations under Kevin Vaz.
- Gaurav Gokhale: Leading digital business strategy and operations under Kiran Mani.
- Alok Jain: Heading the Entertainment Cluster for Colors, Digital Hindi, Niche, Movies, and Studio.
- Sumanta Bose: Leading the Entertainment Cluster for Star Plus, Bharat, Bengali, Marathi, and Gujarati.
- Krishnan Kutty: Heading the Entertainment Cluster for South.
- Ajit Varghese: Leading Revenue, Entertainment, and International operations.
- Piyush Goyal: Heading TV Distribution.
- Bharat Ram: Leading Product at Viacom18, serving as Chief Product Officer and Ad Tech Platform Lead.
- Akash Saxena: Heading Technology.
- Shoury Bharadwaj: Heading Engineering.
- Vijay Seshadri: Serving as Chief Architect.
- Ishan Chatterjee: Heading Business for Sports Revenue, SMB, and Creator.
- Hursh Shrivastava: Heading Partnerships.
- Sushant Sreeram: Heading Marketing.
- Rishi Gaind: Heading Human Resources.
- George Cherian: Heading Corporate Communications & PR.
- Rajat Nigam: Leading IT and media operations transition.
- Sandeep Jain: Heading Commercial.
- Mukesh Mundhra: Leading Transition Finance.
- Mani Rangarajan: Working on financial integration.
- Kshripra Jatana: Leading Transition Legal.
As this powerhouse partnership unfolds, the industry eagerly anticipates the innovative products, services, and content that will redefine the future of Indian entertainment.
