MAM
HUL reshuffles Board of Directors
MUMBAI: The biggest Indian consumer goods company, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) has announced the appointment of Sridhar Ramamurthy, presently, executive director Finance & IT and CFO of HUL, as senior vice president Finance for the Global Markets.
He will be part of the Global Markets Executive of Unilever and based in London.
The present Unilever Americas Supply Chain Company Finance vice president PB Balaji will succeed Sridhar as executive director Finance & IT and CFO of HUL. He will join the Board of Directors of HUL and will be part of the Management Committee of HUL.
The appointment was approved by the Board of Directors of HUL, today, after the Nomination & Remuneration Committee recommended his name to the Board. The appointment approved by the Board is subject to such statutory approvals as may be applicable.
Balaji had joined HUL in May 1993 and has worked in different roles in the company. Prior to moving to Unilever in 2011, Balaji was HUL Home & Personnel Care business Finance VP.
The changes are effective from July 1, 2014.
The Board places on record its appreciation for the contribution made by Sridhar Ramamurthy.
MAM
Sameer Nair shares heartfelt note as he exits Applause Entertainment
After nine years building the streamer’s content engine, one of India’s best-known TV men is moving on
MUMBAI: Sameer Nair is out. The chief executive of Applause Entertainment, the content studio backed by Kumar Mangalam Birla’s media empire, has announced his departure after nearly nine years at the helm, closing the chapter on one of Indian entertainment’s more quietly consequential careers.
Nair, who built Applause from the ground up in its current avatar, oversaw a slate that spanned Indian originals and international adaptations, threading together a hub-and-spoke business model that partnered with streaming platforms, broadcasters and production houses alike. The results were uneven, as they always are in content, but the ambition was not.
In a post on LinkedIn, Nair was generous to his outgoing patron. He thanked Birla for being an “inspirational boss and a great patron of the arts,” and signed off with a cheerful “Au Revoir” and a promise to remain Applause’s biggest cheerleader. Whether that sentiment survives the next chapter remains to be seen.
No successor has been named. Applause Entertainment did not immediately comment.
Nair built the machine. Now someone else has to run it — and in a streaming market that is simultaneously consolidating and convulsing, that is no small ask.
