Mumbai December 27, 2017: STAR INDIA Managing Director Sanjay Gupta, announced the appointment of Gautam Thakar as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – Star Sports. In his new role, Gautam will lead the sports broadcast business as its Chief Executive Officer. His appointment is effective January 2018.
Sanjay Gupta commented “We are happy to welcome Gautam into the Star India family to lead our next paradigm in sports broadcasting. He brings to the table a wealth of knowledge and proven strategic capabilities. We at Star have always set ourselves a bold growth agenda and we are confident that Gautam will contribute in taking the multi-sports culture that Star has pioneered in India, to the next level.”
Gautam brings over 20 years of deep operating and leadership experience. He started his career as a brand manager with P&G in India, then led baazee.com as a founding management team member to become the No. 1 e-commerce company in India (acquired by eBay in 2004).
He spent 10 years at eBay in a variety of leadership roles (Country Manager for eBay India, global marketing leader for eBay’s International markets as well as leader of eBay’s multi-billion dollar cross border business, CEO of shopping.com (an eBay acquisition) and general manager responsible for building a multi hundred million dollar Adtech business) before leading the turnaround at LivingSocial (acquired by Groupon).
Gautam has an MBA from IIM, Lucknow and prior to that a Bachelor’s in Commerce from Sydenham College, Mumbai.
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About Star India:
Star India has defined the Indian media landscape since 1991 and today is one of the country’s leading media conglomerates, reaching approximately 700+ million viewers a month across India and more than 100 other countries. Star generates 30,000+ hours of content every year and broadcasts 60+ channels in 8 different languages, reaching 9 out of 10 C&S TV homes in India.
The network’s entertainment channel portfolio includes Star Gold, Channel V, Star World, Star World Premiere HD, Star Movies, Star Movies Select HD, Star Utsav, Star Utsav Movies, Star Bharat, Movies OK and Star Plus, India’s No. 1 Hindi General Entertainment Channel. It has a leading presence in regional broadcasting as well, through a bouquet of channels which include Star Jalsha, Jalsha Movies, Star Pravah, Maa channels and affiliate channels Asianet, Asianet Plus, Asianet Movies, Suvarna, Suvarna Plus and Vijay. It is also present in the Indian movie production and distribution space through Fox Star Studios, an affiliate joint venture company.
Star India is making quantum leaps in transforming sports in the country by leveraging the group’s strengths in superior content and audience engagement. Star’s sports business has grown rapidly to 12 channel properties (Star Sports 1, 2, Star Sports Select 1, Star Sports Select 2, Star Sports Hindi 1; Star Sports HD1, HD2, Star Sports Select 1 HD, Star Sports Select 2 HD, Star Sports Hindi 1 HD; India’s first Tamil Sports channel Star Sports Tamil 1 and India’s first private FTA sports channel Star Sports First), making it the leading sports network in the country.
Star is set to drive the agenda on digital content consumption in the country with Hotstar, Star’s revolutionary digital platform that brings your favourite TV shows, movies and sports in one destination.
Star India is a fully owned subsidiary of 21st Century Fox.
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