MAM
boAt appoints Damandeep Singh Soni as VP – growth
New Delhi: Lifestyle consumer electronics brand boAt has appointed Damandeep Singh Soni as new VP – growth. He will be responsible to drive the company’s function to make it the largest D2C company in India. He announced the development on his LinkedIn.
Prior to this, Soni was working as a senior advisor – marketing and growth at multiple startups like Whitehat Jr, Limeroad, Editorji, Snapchat and others to help their business grow, develop marketing strategies, and drive monetization strategies and revenue growth.
With over 20 years of experience, Soni has had an illustrious career. He was the India head for Line, a chat app, between 2014 and 2016. Later, he joined Mobikwik as a CMO and growth head for a period of two years. Soni also had a brief stint with Milkbasket as VP – marketing. He also started a few ventures of his own. Some of the other brands that he worked at includes Infosys, Wecash, and Nokia.
boAt is one of the first digitally native brands to record a revenue of Rs 500 crore in FY19-20. It was started in 2016 with a target audience of youth interested in fashionable consumer electronics. The product range has expanded to include an extensive catalog of headphones, earphones, wearable, speakers, travel chargers, and premium cables.
MAM
Jeff Shell departs as president of Paramount Skydance
Media executive exits amid legal battle with professional gambler.
MUMBAI: Jeff Shell has just had another high-profile exit from a major media company and this time, the drama involves a $150 million lawsuit and allegations of leaked secrets. The former NBCUniversal CEO is stepping down as president of Paramount Skydance to focus on defending himself against a lawsuit filed by professional gambler R.J. Cipriani. Cipriani claims Shell owes him $150 million for crisis communications services and accuses the executive of sharing confidential information about Paramount Skydance, including details of a potential $111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition and a $7.7 billion UFC rights deal.
Paramount Skydance confirmed Shell’s departure on Wednesday, stating that he is leaving to prioritise the lawsuit. The company added that an independent investigation found no violation of securities laws by Shell.
In a strongly worded statement, Paramount Skydance described Cipriani’s claims as “frivolous and baseless” and said Shell had promptly notified the company of the accusations. Shell has filed a countercomplaint, accusing Cipriani of extortion and defamation.
This marks Shell’s second major exit in three years. He was ousted from NBCUniversal in April 2023 following an internal investigation into an “inappropriate” relationship with an employee who had filed a complaint of sexual harassment and sex discrimination. He joined Paramount Skydance in July 2024 as David Ellison’s right-hand man.
Shell was tasked with overseeing day-to-day operations during the integration of Skydance Media and Paramount Global. He played a key role in identifying cost savings and job cuts ahead of the potential Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
His sudden departure adds to the turbulence at Paramount Skydance as it navigates a massive merger, expected layoffs, and leadership transitions. David Ellison now faces the challenge of managing the brain drain while closing one of the biggest media deals in recent years.
In the cut-throat world of Hollywood dealmaking, Jeff Shell’s exit shows that even seasoned executives can find themselves caught in a plot twist they didn’t see coming. The credits on this particular chapter are still rolling.
