Rejig at Viacom18: Kiran Mani to lead digital, sports; Kevin Vaz gets TV + digital content
Kiran Mani, Viacom18's CEO for digital vertical, is expected to lead the media company's digital and sports businesses, and Kevin Vaz, CEO-Broadcast, will oversee Viacom18's content clusters for TV and digital, says a media report. This restructuring is said to be in the wake of Reliance's merger with Disney. RIL and The Walt Disney announced the signing of binding definitive agreements on February 28 to form a JV that will combine the businesses of Viacom18 and Star India.
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The report citing an internal communication said Kiran Mani will also handle Viacom18's linear sports channels.
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Mani joined Viacom18 last year after a 13-year stint with Google. As part of the new structure, the report said, Anil Jairaj, Viacom18 Sports CEO, will now report to Mani. Kevin Vaz joined Viacom18 in July last year after moving out of Disney Star in April. The media undertaking of Viacom18 will be merged into Star India through a court-approved scheme of arrangement. In addition, RIL has agreed to invest at closing Rs 11,500 crore into the JV for its growth strategy. The transaction values the JV at Rs 70,352 crore. Post completion of the above steps, the JV will be controlled by RIL and owned 16.34 per cent by RIL, 46.82 per cent by Viacom18 and 36.84 per cent by Disney. Disney may also contribute certain additional media assets to the JV, subject to regulatory and third-party approvals.