Bhaskar Das, Group CEO of News Cluster at Zee Media has resigned from his post (BSE filing) and will instead work as the president and chief growth and innovation officer at Zee Unimedia Limited, Zee Entertainment’s media distribution arm, according to an exchange4media report. At Zee Unimedia, Das will head the group’s news business operations, including the digital properties.
Das has been the Group CEO of Zee Media for over 2 years, before which he was with The Times of India Group since 1980 according to his Linkedin profile. He has taken up executive rules including President (5 years), Director of Ad sales (10 years), Profit Centre head (9 years), among others with the Times of India Group.
Other appointments at Zee
– This month, DNA, owned by Zee Media announced that Rohit Gandhi who headed the company’s English news channel WION (as Editor-in-Chief), additionally take over the role of Editor-in-Chief of DNA as well. Additionally, Shreyasi Goenka, who has been mentoring content at DNA for a while, took over responsibility of Content Advisor of DNA.
– In November 2015, Zee Media had elevated Pooja Gupta from deputy VP of content strategy and marketing to the head of marketing. Gupta is based in Noida and reports to R K Arora, COO of Zee Media, who was her boss from her previous role.
– In April 2015, Zee Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) hired Piyush Sharma as the CEO of new initiatives for India and Asia-Pacific.
Zee Entertainment financials
Zee Entertainment’s subscription revenues stood at Rs 521.8 crore at the end of Q3 FY16 recording a growth of 17% over Q3 FY15. During Q3 FY16, domestic subscription revenues stood at Rs 418.8 crore while international subscription revenues stood at Rs 103 crore. Subscription revenues formed 33% of the total revenues.
Other developments from Zee Group
-Last month, Zee Media Corporation Limited announced the launch of its television news channel called WION (World is One News) in the summer. The new channel will report global news and issues from a South Asian perspective.
-In February, Zee Media acquired 80% majority stake in two of India Today Group companies, Today Merchandise and Today Retail Network. The companies in process of being acquired are working on creating a retail TV channel and an ecommerce website to complement the network.
-In the same month, Zee Digital launched a new video on demand platform called OZEE which streams movies, TV shows, videos and music. As of now, users can use the platform for free, and don’t even have to login to view content.
-In July last year, Zee Entertainment approved in-principle acquisition of 100% equity stake in Sarthak Entertainment Private Limited, which owns and operates ‘SARTHAK’ an Odia language general entertainment channel.
Image Credit: Bhaskar Das Twitter Profile
