MAM
Bata India appoints Gunjan Shah as the new CEO
KOLKATA: Footwear major Bata India Limited on Friday announced the appointment of Gunjan Shah as its new chief executive officer. Shah will be at the helm of the brand’s operations in India. He takes over from Sandeep Kataria who was elevated as the Global CEO of Bata Brands.
Shah will join Bata in June and will be based out of Gurugram.
In his previous role, Shah was the chief commercial officer at Britannia Industries. He spent the early stages of his career working with brands such as Asian Paints and Motorola before moving on to Britannia in 2007. He carries extensive experience working across varied sectors spanning Consumer Durables, Telecom, and FMCG and brings to the table an innate knack for understanding consumers, passion for action, people development experience, and clarity of thought and purpose, the company said on Friday.
“I am delighted to welcome Gunjan on board as Bata India’s new CEO. Over the past few years, we have been consistently delivering strong growth in the highly competitive footwear market. Backed by decades of experience working with powerhouse brands, Gunjan understands the Indian market’s complexities and varied nuances. I’m confident that he will add value and strengthen Bata’s position in the Indian market,” said Bata India Ltd chairman Ashwani Windlass.
“India has always been a significant market for us from a global perspective,” said Bata Brands global CEO Sandeep Kataria. “A dynamic leader like Gunjan will spearhead the company’s operations in India and given his extensive experience and track record, I am confident that he will take the Bata brand to even greater heights and deliver strong growth.”
Shah holds a Bachelor of Technology (Computers) from VJTI, Mumbai, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.
“I feel both honored and humbled on being appointed as the CEO of India’s favorite footwear brand and on the confidence reposed in me by the board. As an iconic brand, Bata has become an integral part of the Indian fabric. I realize that I have big shoes to fill in and I’m thrilled about working with the talented & experienced Bata team. I look forward to building on the legacy of my predecessors in taking the Bata brand to new heights alongside creating long-term sustainable value for all stakeholders in the company,” Shah added.
MAM
Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
