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Jagannath is head of trade marketing at LinkedIn India
MUMBAI: Professional social network LinkedIn has appointed A L Jagannath as head, trade marketing as a step towards strengthening its leadership team in India. His immediate focus will be to drive existing and new initiatives for LinkedIn’s marketing solutions and hiring solutions portfolios.
Drawing from his 18 years of experience in the field of marketing, Jagannath also work toward widening awareness about LinkedIn’s array of customised solutions that are available to advertisers and recruiters in the Indian market.
Jagannath will be based out of Bengaluru. He comes in from VMWare, where he was director, marketing for India and SAARC region. Before joining VMWare, he was associated with Sun Microsystems in India as the general manager, marketing for their Systems and Storage business. During his career, he has worked for companies like Satyam Computers, Reliance Infocomm and Mudra Communications.
LinkedIn India country manager Hari V Krishnan said, “Being the second-largest member base for LinkedIn, we see tremendous potential for further growing our business in India. We have built a strong and viable platform for the business over the last two and a half years. Our focus moving forward will be to build off this platform and continue to give the best value to our advertisers and recruiters. Jagannath brings invaluable experience in building up large businesses and his addition to the India leadership team will help us accelerate our growth in the market, strengthen our operations and associate with even more businesses in India.”
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
