MAM
Brand new innings! Abhik Chakraborti joins Ileseum as marketing head
MUMBAI: From Hungama to Ileseum marketing maverick Abhik Chakraborti is back in the spotlight, this time with a brand playbook that’s as bold as it is brilliant. Ileseum Clubs has roped in seasoned marketing strategist Abhik Chakraborti as its new head of marketing, signalling a high-impact move as the lifestyle and leisure brand gears up for its next growth sprint. With a career spanning over 19 years, Abhik brings to the table a powerful blend of branding finesse, content vision, and campaign muscle.
From orchestrating big-ticket IPs like IIFA at Wizcraft International to crafting luxury narratives at Shazé, his stints read like a marketing masterclass. He’s also held top roles at Percept Ltd, Rhiti Group, Hungama, and even steered digital-first strategies as CMO at Bedbathmore making him well-versed in the art of blending entertainment with enterprise.
At Ileseum, his mandate is clear: supercharge brand visibility, build cultural capital, and drive marketing innovation across physical and digital touchpoints.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Abhik to the Ileseum family,” the team announced, describing his arrival as pivotal to the brand’s journey into uncharted territories of consumer experience and storytelling.
A Mumbai native and marketer by instinct, Abhik is known for balancing the boardroom and the backstage building brands that not only perform but perform with flair. Whether it’s managing strategic alliances at Promo Sapiens or crafting content ecosystems, his career is a showcase in adaptability and narrative-driven growth.
As Ileseum Clubs expands its footprint, expect Abhik to spin more than just campaigns, this one’s all set to script a brand renaissance.
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.
