After Vaz Exit, Disney Star Restructures Leadership Team

Disney Star, the local branch of the Walt Disney Company in the media and entertainment industry, has restructured its internal leadership team after the departure of Kevin Vaz, the former head of network entertainment channels in April. The changes were announced through an internal email by K Madhavan, the country manager for Disney Star. 

Gaurav Banerjee, who was previously in charge of the content studio for TV and Disney+ Hotstar, the company's video streaming platform, will now have additional responsibilities. He will oversee Star Bharat, both the Hindi and English Movies channels, Kids and Infotainment, as well as the regional portfolio (East) comprising Star Jalsha and Star Kiran. Banerjee will continue to report to Madhavan. 

Krishnan Kutty will now be responsible for the business and content of the entire South and Marathi regional portfolio, which includes Star Suvarna, Star Maa, Asianet, Star Vijay, Star Pravah and Disney+ Hotstar regional specials for these markets. Kutty will report directly to Madhavan. 

Sumanta Bose will remain as the business head for Star Plus and Star Utsav, reporting directly to Madhavan. In addition, he will lead content for Star Plus, Star Jalsha, and Disney+ Hotstar Hindi specials. For this role, Bose will report to Banerjee and also have an additional reporting line to Sajith Sivanandan, the head of Disney+ Hotstar. 

Alok Jain, who previously supervised Star Maa, Star Jalsha, Star Kiran and Star Suvarna, has chosen to leave the company and pursue another opportunity. 

The internal email stated that these changes aim to create a more efficient and streamlined approach to revenue, marketing and operations functions. 

Mani Rangarajan, in addition to his existing responsibilities for technology and operations in the Disney cluster, will now have complete oversight of these functions for the network. As a result, Vivek Dhaimade, the head of traffic and presentation and Gajendra Tijare, the head of broadcast technology and operations, will report to Rangarajan. 

Minakshi Achan, who currently serves as the head of creative communications, will also take on the role of overseeing social listening. Venke Sharma, the head of the distillery, will report to Achan. 

Star India reported a 74 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit for the financial year ending on 31 March 2022. The company's profit rose to Rs 1421.27 crore from Rs 815.72 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. 

According to data obtained from the business intelligence platform Tofler, the company's revenues for the financial year amounted to Rs 17,480.62 crore, a 38 per cent increase compared to Rs 12,664.36 crore in the previous year.