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Tag: James Murdoch

  • Lachlan Murdoch crowned as siblings take billion-dollar bow

    Lachlan Murdoch crowned as siblings take billion-dollar bow

    MUMBAI: The Murdoch family succession drama has finally reached its climax. Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert’s favoured son and ideological ally, has emerged with undisputed control of Fox Corp and News Corp after a protracted courtroom battle in Nevada. The denouement sees three siblings—Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch and James Murdoch—cut out of the empire altogether, each walking away with a billion-dollar payday.

    The companies announced on Monday that all litigation over the Murdoch Family Trust had been terminated. New trusts will be created for Lachlan and his half-sisters Grace and Chloe, with their combined holdings pooled into a new vehicle, LGC Holdco. That entity will command about 36.2 per cent of Fox’s Class B voting shares and 33.1 per cent of News Corp’s Class B stock. Crucially, sole voting power sits with Lachlan as managing director. The arrangement runs until 2050, effectively locking in his control for a generation. Rupert, 94, retains the honorary role of chairman emeritus.

    The three departing heirs are not just sidelined—they are barred from returning. Their buyouts, partly funded by the sale of 16.9 million Fox and 14.2 million News Corp shares previously held by the trust, will be followed by the disposal of their remaining token stakes. A long-term standstill agreement ensures they, or their affiliates, cannot repurchase stock or interfere with the companies. Within six months, they will be gone in every sense: no shares, no votes, no say.

    The outcome caps years of intrigue. James Murdoch, increasingly estranged from the empire, has openly backed Democrats and liberal causes. Elisabeth, once seen as a rival for the top job, nurtured her own ambitions in television. Prudence, though less visible, was part of the bloc resisting Rupert’s 2023 bid to rewrite the trust in Lachlan’s favour. That manoeuvre was struck down by a Nevada court last winter, which found Rupert, Lachlan and their advisers had acted in “bad faith.” The ruling forced negotiations that culminated in this week’s truce.

    For Rupert, the settlement is as much about politics as power. By engineering billion-dollar exits for his dissenting heirs, he has secured not only Lachlan’s throne but also the conservative orientation of his media empire, anchored by Fox News. The prospect of a posthumous coup—James and Elisabeth uniting to steer the company leftward—has been neutralised.

    Fox’s board endorsed the outcome, calling Lachlan’s leadership “important to guiding the company’s strategy and success.” Investors may also breathe easier: the messy trust fight, which threatened to destabilise one of the world’s most influential media conglomerates, has been neatly resolved.

    It is an ending with all the hallmarks of the Murdoch mythos: courtroom secrecy in Reno, billion-dollar pay-offs, siblings sidelined, and one heir enthroned. Rupert, the ultimate showman, has once again scripted the finale to his family saga—leaving Lachlan in command until mid-century.

  • Ayushmann Khurrana named brand ambassador for 25 Ficci Frames

    Ayushmann Khurrana named brand ambassador for 25 Ficci Frames

    MUMBAI: Lights, camera, celebration! As Ficci Frames gears up for its 25 anniversary, Indian cinema superstar Ayushmann Khurrana has been announced as the brand ambassador for the event, becoming the face of India’s media & entertainment industry. This silver jubilee edition promises to combine star power, disruptive innovation, and global relevance, making it a landmark occasion for India’s thriving creative landscape.

    This year’s theme, “RISE: Redefining Innovation, Sustainability, and Excellence,” reflects Ficci Frames’ transformative role in shaping the narratives, creativity, and evolution of India’s media and entertainment industry. Over 25 years, the event has emerged as the premier platform for industry collaboration, bringing together global leaders, policymakers, and creative talents to discuss the future of entertainment.

    Expressing his excitement, Ficci Media chair & entertainment committee and Jiostar CEO- entertainment, Kevin Vaz said, “The silver jubilee edition of Ficci Frames is a celebration of 25 years of excellence and a tribute to the legacy we have built in shaping India’s Media & Entertainment industry. Ayushmann Khurrana, with his incredible journey of creativity, innovation, and connection with audiences, represents the very ethos of Ficci Frames. His association will elevate this milestone event and inspire future generations of storytellers and creators.”

    Sharing his thoughts on being the first brand ambassador for Ficci Frames, Khurrana said, “It is a huge honour for me to be announced as the first Brand Ambassador for Ficci Frames in its silver jubilee year! As someone who arrived in Mumbai from Chandigarh with nothing but dreams in my eyes, I could never have imagined this incredible journey, one where my work has not only touched lives but also become a part of India’s rich pop culture tapestry. In my new role, I am committed to working closely with the exceptional Ficci team to champion disruption, celebrate innovation, and highlight the excellence our industry consistently delivers.”

    Ficci Frames has long been a beacon of leadership in India’s creative ecosystem. Previously chaired by Yash Chopra and co-chaired by Karan Johar, the event is now led by Kevin Vaz, alongside co-chairs Meta India VP & MD Sandhya Devanathan, and Warner Bros. Discovery GM, south Asia Arjun Nohwar.

    Notable global icons, such as Hugh Jackman, James Murdoch, and Mukesh Ambani, have graced the Ficci Frames stage in the past. Indian cinema legends like Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Amitabh Bachchan have also contributed to its star-studded history.

    Held annually in Mumbai, the silver jubilee event promises to dive into cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, virtual reality, digital content creation, and the metaverse, while continuing to highlight traditional media. The programme will feature keynote addresses, B2B meetings, masterclasses, policy roundtables, and the Best Animated Frames Awards (BAF).

    With Khurrana leading the charge, this year’s Ficci Frames is set to redefine the boundaries of media and entertainment innovation, paving the way for the next 25 years of creative excellence.

  • Uday Shankar & what’s driving the Star-Disney-Viacom18 merger

    Uday Shankar & what’s driving the Star-Disney-Viacom18 merger

    MUMBAI: Uday Shankar has been lying low for quite a while, avoiding mixing and sharing his wisdom with journalists – a breed from which he emerged  – as he goes about reshaping a new media and entertainment powerhouse coming out of the merger of Disney Star with Reliance Industries’ Viacom18. 

    But the incoming vice-chair took some time out to speak to McKinsey.com. Speaking to the consulting firm’s insights section online, Uday, highlighted what drove the merger.

    “..India is one of the few markets where television still has reasonably good health, within that, a lot of it is changing. Connected TVs and handheld devices have become very substantial and mainstream,” he said. “You’re competing with global players: Google and Meta. Most of digital-advertising revenue goes to these two companies. So you need to pivot; you need to create a business. We saw an opportunity to leverage our inherent strengths and make that strategic pivot. That’s the primary rationale for the merger.”

    He added that the streaming business also requires innovation and disruption with AVoD and SVoD models having limited revenue potential in India. 

    “While there are a lot of people today who are willing to pay for content and who are interesting or important to advertisers, there are also a lot of people who are not relevant for either of these models,” explained Uday. “You need to create unique or native monetisation models to create value from that base. Whoever manages to create new revenue streams definitely has an advantage. So I think all these opportunities exist.”

    Uday then went on to say he’s learnt from every leader he has worked with, from Rupert, James, Lachlan and Mukesh Ambani who he currently continues to work closely with. 

    “The first thing is they’re all very clear about why they’re doing what they’re doing—and that clarity is very helpful,” he elucidated “They all play to win. And they all have a high threshold for failure. They’re patient, and they’re not willing to give up. And then, they all work on trust. They all take their bets on people. And once they trust people, they’re willing to back them up. And I learned that myself. I take my bets on people; I trust them once they earn my trust. And I back them up.”

    To read the full interview logon to 
    https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-insights/uday-shankar-on-indias-media-and-entertainment-evolution#/

    Picture courtesy: McKinsey.com’s video interview with Uday Shankar
     

  • Viacom18 aims for long-term growth with Rs 15,000 crore investment

    Viacom18 aims for long-term growth with Rs 15,000 crore investment

    Mumbai: Network18 Media and Investments Ltd announced on Tuesday the results for the financial year (FY) 2021-2022 and for the fourth quarter ending on 31 March.

    The company reported consolidated operating revenue of Rs 5,880 crore a 25 per cent increase year-on-year (YoY). Its profit after tax (PAT) stood at Rs 838 crore up by 53 per cent YoY despite the impact of Rs ~140 crore higher tax provision. It reported its highest ever operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) at Rs 1,080 crore up by 36 per cent YoY driven by robust financial performance in all three verticals – TV news, entertainment, and digital news.

    For the fourth quarter, the company reported earnings of Rs 1,621 crore up by 15 per cent YoY. However, consolidated operating EBITDA stood at Rs 266 crore, a five percent decline YoY.

    Partnership with Bodhi Tree

    On 27 April, Viacom18 announced a strategic partnership with Reliance and Bodhi Tree Systems, a platform of James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems and Uday Shankar. As part of the deal, Rs 15,145 crore will be infused by Bodhi Tree Systems and Reliance combined. Bodhi Tree will invest Rs 13,500 crore whereas Reliance Projects and Property Management Services Limited (RPPMSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance, will infuse Rs 1,645 crore. In addition, the JioCinema OTT app, currently owned by RPPMSL, will be transferred to Viacom18.

    The media conglomerate also announced that Paramount Global will continue to supply its premium global content and launch Paramount+ in India in partnership with its subsidiary Viacom18. “Paramount Global, formerly ViacomCBS, reaffirmed its commitment to the partnership as a strategic partner in Viacom18,” said the company statement. “This partnership between Reliance, Paramount Global and Bodhi Tree Systems, will enable Viacom18 to transform into one of the largest TV and digital streaming companies in India,” the company said.

    The infusion of Rs ~15,000 crore in Viacom18 will enable the company to make an investment in high growth businesses namely digital, sports and regional entertainment and set it on a long-term growth path, said the statement.

    “The media and entertainment industry in India has a long runway for growth and has attracted the interests of global players as well as spurred mergers and acquisition activity from Indian peers,” said the statement. “Digital business models are still evolving for all players as the Indian digital ecosystem continues to mature every year, however, still some time away from being a positive contributor to the bottom line. To be a meaningful player in this landscape, where consumers are spoilt for choice, one has to invest in content, distribution and technology.”

    Viacom18 will use the cash infusion to scale up its content offering for both digital and TV and strengthen its competitive position across markets. The strategic arrangement to access Jio’s 400 million strong mobility and fiber consumer base will enable Viacom18’s digital platform to access the consumers of Jio and catapult its reach. It will enable the utilisation of a large smartphone and JioPhone user base for advertising and driving subscription revenue for premium content. JioCinema will also bring its critical partnerships with marquee content producers for content and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) for distribution.

    The transaction is expected to close within six months and is subject to customary closing conditions and approvals.

    Sports business

    Viacom18 forayed into the sports genre and launched three sports channels including one free-to-air channel last month. During the year, the company acquired the television and digital rights to sports properties like NBA and FIFA World Cup, two of the most watched sports properties in the world, as well as major footballing leagues La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy) and Ligue 1 (France), Cinch Premiership (Scotland), and other sporting events like ATP Masters Tennis, WTA, top BWF World Tour events like All England Open Badminton Championship, World Boxing Championship, Abu Dhabi T10 Cricket, and Road Safety World Cricket Series, among others.

    “Viacom18 believes that sports, especially live sports, will help strengthen the value proposition of the network to consumers and will complement the current entertainment offering,” said the statement. “The network will continue to add more events and properties to its catalogue and will strive to be India’s most-coveted sports network by providing fans easy access to a comprehensive bouquet of international and premium sports content.”

    The company’s TV network maintained an all India viewership share of 10.7 per cent. The share of entertainment networks in the non-news genre was 11.2 per cent with Colors being the top second primetime channel in the Hindi general entertainment genre. The channel launched ten fiction and five impact shows to strengthen its viewership share in the genre. Colors Kannada and Colors Marathi were amongst the top three channels in their respective markets with kids and English portfolios were leaders in their genres.

    As per Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) ratings which resumed on 17 March, TV18 news portfolio was #22 in terms of reach and #32 in terms of viewership share. The network maintained leadership in English business news (CNBC TV18) and had strong positions in English and several regional markets.

    “FY22 was a remarkable year, not only from the perspective of numbers, but in terms of building a strong foundation on which the business can continue to grow for the foreseeable future,” said Network18 chairman Adil Zainulbhai. “The financial performance has vindicated our decision to invest in new businesses a few years ago which have started showing encouraging positive results. In a similar vein, we have set ourselves an ambitious target to become a leading player in the digital space while strengthening our core TV offering. We will continue to solidify our ‘Digital First, TV Always’ proposition, leveraging our existing strengths to grow in segments where we are present and breaking ground in new markets with new and innovative offerings. The strategic partnership we have struck for Viacom18 is a big step in this direction which will help set the Company on a long-term growth trajectory and create one of India’s leading content company.”

  • James Murdoch, Uday Shankar’s Bodhi Tree Systems to invest Rs 13,500 crore in Viacom18

    James Murdoch, Uday Shankar’s Bodhi Tree Systems to invest Rs 13,500 crore in Viacom18

    Mumbai: Reliance and Viacom18 have announced a strategic partnership with Bodhi Tree Systems, which is a platform of James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems and Uday Shankar, to form one of the largest TV and digital streaming companies in India. Bodhi Tree Systems is leading a fund raise with a consortium of investors to invest Rs 13,500 crore in Viacom18, to jointly build India’s leading entertainment platform and pioneer the Indian media landscape’s transformation to a “streaming-first” approach. 

    Viacom18 owns and operates the suite of Colors TV channels and OTT platform Voot.

    Reliance Projects and Property Management Services Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries which has significant presence in television, OTT, distribution, content creation, and production services, will invest Rs 1,645 crore. In addition, the popular JioCinema OTT app will be transferred to Viacom18.

    Paramount Global (formerly known as ViacomCBS), a leading global media and entertainment company comprised of iconic content studios, TV networks and streaming services including CBS, Showtime Networks, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount+ and Pluto TV will continue as a shareholder of Viacom18 and will continue to supply Viacom18 its premium global content.

    Bodhi Tree Systems, a newly formed platform between Lupa Systems founder and CEO James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, the former president of The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific and former Chairman of Star and Disney India, will leverage the partners’ shared track record of building iconic businesses and shaping the media landscape in India and globally. Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar, is an investor in Bodhi Tree Systems.

    “James and Uday’s track record is unmatched,” said Reliance Industries Ltd chairman and managing director Mukesh D Ambani. “For over two decades, they have played an undeniable role in shaping the media ecosystem in India, Asia, and around the world. We are very excited to partner with Bodhi Tree and lead India’s transition to a streaming-first media market. We are committed to bringing the best media and entertainment services for Indian customers through this partnership.”

    “We could not be more pleased to announce our new partnership,” Murdoch and Shankar said in a joint statement. “Our ambition is to leverage technology advances, particularly in mobile, to provide meaningful solutions to meet everyday media and entertainment needs at scale. We seek to reshape the entertainment experience across more than one billion screens.”

    Upon closing, Viacom18, in close cooperation with Reliance, Bodhi Tree Systems and Paramount Global, will shape a vision, strategy, and execution for its businesses, building on the strong existing foundation. Viacom18 is amongst the leading players in the core linear television business with 38 channels across nine languages and a pan India presence.

    The transaction is expected to close within six months and is subject to closing conditions and requisite approvals.

  • Uday Shankar, James Murdoch launch investment platform with $1.5 billion corpus

    Uday Shankar, James Murdoch launch investment platform with $1.5 billion corpus

    Mumbai: Uday Shankar and James Murdoch’s private investment company Lupa Systems has announced that it is forming Bodhi Tree, an investment platform that will be financially supported by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).

    This new venture is designed to invest in media and consumer technology opportunities in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on India. It will be run by Murdoch and Shankar as co-chairs, combining decades of experience influencing the region’s media landscape and emerging consumers. QIA will be committing up to $1.5 billion in Bodhi Tree’s vision being pursued by Murdoch and Shankar.

    “Bodhi Tree will leverage technology to provide disruptive solutions that drive transformational outcomes in sectors with deep consumer engagement – including media, education and healthcare – to positively impact millions of consumers across the region. Bodhi Tree will be investing at scale to achieve these outcomes,” said the statement.

    “We are very pleased to announce Bodhi Tree,” said Murdoch and Shankar. “Opportunities abound to scale exciting businesses in India and the broader Southeast Asia region. Our continued focus on investing and building relationships in these regions comes from our deep conviction in the long-term growth of these economies and the incredible power of these consumers, as these sectors are transformed by technology.”

    “QIA is proud to play a key role in bringing Bodhi Tree to reality,” said QIA CEO Mansoor bin Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud. “QIA is investing in the technology and media space and India is a key market for us. QIA looks forward to backing Bodhi Tree as they drive forward their growth plans in the future.”

    James Murdoch was the chief executive officer of 21st Century Fox between 2015 and 2019. Uday Shankar is the former chairman and CEO of Star India and former president of Walt Disney Asia Pacific.

    In January, media reports indicated that Murdoch and Shankar were in talks with ViacomCBS and Reliance Industries to pick up a 40 per cent stake in Viacom18, the entertainment network jointly owned by TV18 and ViacomCBS.

  • Uday Shankar, James Murdoch to acquire 40% stake in Viacom18: Reports

    Uday Shankar, James Murdoch to acquire 40% stake in Viacom18: Reports

    Mumbai: Lupa India, the investment company set up by former Star & Disney India chairman Uday Shankar and his boss from Star James Murdoch, is under negotiations for picking up a 40 per cent stake in Viacom 18, say media reports.

    Viacom 18, which runs television and digital entertainment channels, is currently a joint venture by Reliance Industries Ltd’s TV 18 (51 per cent) and Viacom CBS (49 per cent). With this deal, the latter is expected to turn into a minority player with 10 per cent stake, while RIL will retain its share.

    Lupa India is reportedly investing Rs 12,000 crore in Viacom18, the reports said. Most of the investment is said to be through the primary infusion of funds that will be used to build the company’s sports and entertainment verticals across both the broadcasting and digital businesses.

    According to reports, Uday Shankar will play a key role in the operations of Viacom 18 as the media conglomerate looks to enter the big league of sports business. He was instrumental in establishing Star as a formidable player in sports broadcasting. As the then CEO, he usurped the IPL rights from Sony in 2017 by paying double the amount (Rs 16,347 crore) for half the number of years. Star had also paid Rs 11,880 crore to win the bid for ICC tournaments for a period of eight years.

    With mounting consolidation in the media broadcasting sector, the focus of the industry has shifted to sports, especially cricket, and digital as a whole. While Viacom18’s sports portfolio today includes NBA (National Basketball Association), FIFA World Cup 2022, Italy’s popular football league Serie A, the Spanish football league LaLiga, ATP Masters (tennis) and Abu Dhabi T10 (cricket), winning the rights to the most popular cricketing event, the IPL rights, seems crucial for the broadcaster to be able to take on the Disney-Star and Zee-Sony juggernaut.

    In a bid to further build its sports vertical, in September, Viacom 18 appointed former Star Sports EVP Anil Jayraj as CEO-sports. The other two key appointments made in December were that of Siddharth Sharma (former Star Sports SVP) as EVP – sports and Mallika Petkar (former Disney+ Hotstar – head of SMB growth strategy) as SVP- sports.  

    Two major cricket broadcasting rights including the five-year broadcasting and digital rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the eight-year contract for broadcasting and digital rights for various World Cup championships held by the International Cricket Council (ICC) will be auctioned this year.

  • James Murdoch & Uday Shankar go the SPAC way to fund new venture

    James Murdoch & Uday Shankar go the SPAC way to fund new venture

    KOLKATA: Former top Disney executive Uday Shankar and Lupa Systems founder and CEO James Murdoch are getting on the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) rush. Months after joining forces for a new media and tech venture, the dynamic duo is looking to raise $345 million for the same.

    New York-based Seven Islands Inc, backed by Lupa Systems, has floated a blank check to raise the fund in a prospectus published on Tuesday. The company led by co-chairman Murdoch will focus on south and south-east Asia. India will be of particular focus for potential mergers.

    “While our efforts to identify a prospective target business will not necessarily be limited to a particular industry, sector or region, we intend to capitalise on our expertise in the media, entertainment, consumer technology, healthcare, and education industries in southeast and south Asia, with a particular focus on India,” the prospectus read.

    It further added: “Our acquisition and value creation strategy is to identify, acquire and, after our initial business combination, fundamentally enhance the value of a company in the public markets.”

    The one-time scion, Murdoch had exited his family’s media empire to found his own holding company Lupa Systems in 2019. Lupa entered India less than two years ago and has built a portfolio of technology investments. The company has offices in New York and Mumbai. He subsequently quit as a director of News Corp in July last year.

    Early this year, he announced his new venture along with former chairman & CEO of Star India and president of Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific Uday Shankar, to explore technology and media opportunities in emerging markets.

    “As connectivity continues to accelerate and expand across South Asia and the whole region, new opportunities for innovation, across consumer sectors, will multiply…I have every confidence that we can harness technology, enterprise, and tremendous talent to create a great business that is also great for society,” Murdoch had said at the time of the announcement.

    The duo worked together building Star India into the region’s largest media company, prior to its sale as part of the merger of 21st Century Fox and The Walt Disney Company. Shankar is also credited with consolidating Star’s sports broadcasting operations through 21st Century Fox’s acquisition of its joint venture with ESPN.

  • The future belongs to creator-led franchises: James Murdoch

    The future belongs to creator-led franchises: James Murdoch

    New Delhi: Creator-led franchises will be more powerful and more profitable in the years to come if they can take a little more risk and own their IPs, said James Murdoch former chief executive officer of 21st Century Fox and now the founder & CEO of private holding company Lupa Systems.

    As the streaming war rages on, Murdoch said it will put a lot of pressure on the content creators, leading to a huge demand for their services in near future. “The real question is what the creative output is going to look like in these conglomerates. There will be more value for creators in the future, not just in terms of selling for a high price and on a work for hire basis,” he detailed while delivering the keynote address at the annual APOS conference which began virtually on Tuesday.

    According to Murdoch, author ownership will become common, as more creators would not want to sell their work forever and a day.

    Talking about the Indian market, he noted that while some multinationals may be frustrated by bureaucracy or having the wrong local partners, ultimately India is a transparent marketplace, not very top-down but driven by ideas and entrepreneurs, and a consumer economy that is going to grow for a long time.

    “I see a lot of opportunities there, especially when you get into towns and villages where distribution revolution is most profound. Digital connectivity will open vast opportunities for society, logistics, education and it is going to be exciting for entrepreneurs as well as customers if done right,” he said. “The broader media sector is continuing to grow, but it is going to be a chaotic and tumultuous few years in terms of how it shapes in India. There is cutthroat competition in down streaming, complexities of legacy distributions, it is a very disaggregated production environment. But it will be interesting.”

    The one-time scion exited his family's media empire to found his own holding company Lupa Systems in 2019. Early this year, he announced his new venture along with former chairman & CEO of Star India and president of Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific Uday Shankar, to explore technology and media opportunities in emerging markets.

    Highlighting how several big media companies have been seeking to scale to compete in the streaming environment, Murdoch said, the question is not if it's right to scale, but how many of these companies will be more profitable than they were in the past. “Avoiding the loss of value is great, but near survival does not create value. The downstream competition is going to be intense for a long time whether it's Amazon or Netflix. If you try to compete with the mass market, you have to have an amazing user experience and lots of good programming,” he added.

    On founding Lupa Systems in 2019, Murdoch said he wanted to explore areas of long-term consequences. “The more exciting opportunity was to do something entrepreneurial with a small team, but also focus on future questions, especially with all legacy businesses adopting digital,” he shared.

    Run by the regional consultancy Media Partners Asia, the three-day conference kicked off on Tuesday, with the keynote address by Murdoch. Asia's influential media and entertainment industry conference is traditionally organised in Indonesia, but is being held virtually this year due to pandemic restrictions.

  • K Madhavan: From God’s own country to leading Walt Disney’s Indian mousehouse

    K Madhavan: From God’s own country to leading Walt Disney’s Indian mousehouse

    MUMBAI: When The Walt Disney Co international operations and direct-to-consumer chairman Rebecca Campbell was scouting for an executive to fill the big shoes of former Star India, Disney India and APAC head Uday Shankar, she did not have to look far. Though the announcement took some time a-coming, K Madhavan, country manager of Star & Disney India, was the obvious choice. As the overseer of the media conglomerate’s television and studios business in India, Madhavan had worked closely with Uday, until the latter departed in late 2020 to concentrate on an entrepreneurial venture with his former boss James Murdoch.

    An unassuming executive from Kerala, K Madhavan is known to be a hard core numbers man with an extremely razor sharp financial mind. He did well in academia as well; he holds a post graduate degree in commerce, and is a certified associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers. He cut his teeth as an investment banker, when he was roped in as a director to help turn around ailing Malayalam network Asianet in 1999. Within a year, he fortified his position and was elevated to MD & CEO of Asianet Communications.

    His keen understanding of what Malayalam viewers want to watch facilitated the growth of Asianet’s viewership and made it the favourite of those who live in God’s own country. The network was turned around and it soon became a dominant player in Kerala. He did this even as ownership of the network changed hands, more than once – from promoter Reji Menon to the-then BPL and now BJP top shot and venture financier Rajeev Chandrasekhar. In fact, K Madhavan, ended up owning a tidy piece of it as well, as he grew the network’s footprint in Kannada in concert with Chandrashekar as chairman.  

    Until, of course, it landed in the hands of News Corp supremo Rupert Murdoch’s Star TV in 2008. Star acquired a majority stake in Asianet’s general entertainment channels (separated from the news business) for a handsome $235 million and an assumption of $20 million in debt. Madhavan pocketed a neat sum for his efforts even as he was appointed as Star India’s south head in 2009.

    From thereon, there was no looking back. When Star India took control of Asianet, its portfolio consisted of Asianet and Asianet Plus (Malayalam GECs), Asianet Suvarna (a Kannada GEC) and Telugu channel Sitara. To that was added Star Vijay from the Star India network. Several other channels followed: Asianet Movies, Star Maa (through an acquisition of MAA Television network). Today, it has more than 13 pure play southern language channels, covering general entertainment, movies, in Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. Of course, Star India itself has many other regional language channels covering Marathi and Bengali. At the helm of this dizzying growth was Madhavan with Uday, and the Murdochs giving him total freedom. Observers today value the southern language business of Star at around $3 billion (valued at $1.33 billion in 2013 at the time of its acquisition by Star).

    When The Walt Disney Co acquired Twenty First Century Fox a couple of years ago for a massive $72 billion, along with it came all of its Indian assets including the southern language business. Uday, used to working in the maverick style of the Murdochs, quickly had K Madhavan hoicked as country manager of Star & Disney India, leading the media conglomerate’s television and studios business, while he was bumped upstairs to look after the APAC business and Hotstar directly.

    When Uday decided to turn entrepreneur in 2020, day to day operations were left in the hands of K Madhavan, who worked closely with Campbell at the worst of times when the media and entertainment industry – and  Star and Disney India – had to face lockdowns courtesy the pandemic and an acceleration towards digital video consumption. The way he steered the company impressed the Disney headquarters in Burbank.

    “A skilled leader with an extensive background in media, KM has taken our vast Star networks and local content production businesses to new heights,” said Campbell on his elevation. “I have seen first-hand how he has adeptly managed our India business, which has been and will continue to be critical to our global and regional strategy.”

    With the leadership issue for Star India and Disney India settled, it should lead to some clarity on the road ahead for the company which did an estimated top line in excess of $1.7 billion last year. K Madhavan will now be able to steer the network and make it future ready in a country where many homes have antiquated CRT TV sets, many have yet to buy one, while a small fraction have high-end 4K sets even as some are graduating to HD, and the young are increasingly consuming video content on their handsets.

    Like Uday, he has the respect and attention of Burbank, Disney's and Star India's senior leadership who hold his strategic decision making and vision for the group in high regard. Like Uday, he has an entrepreneural streak, combined with a strong systems approach which should bode well for him in an organisation which thrives because of its processes-driven environment. And of course his deep understanding of what the Indian video viewing consumer wants to watch. His success at Asianet bears testimony to that. The only difference: the canvas is larger and wider now and covers a swathe of demographics, languages and platforms, right from TV to movies to digital.

    To his advantage, K Madhavan has the track record and the wherewithal to take the right steps. After all, not every executive can make the transition from heading a small network in God’s own country to leading India’s largest media and entertainment network.