MAM
Eicher Motors reappoints Siddhartha Lal as MD
Mumbai: The board of Eicher Motors Ltd (EML) on Monday decided to re-appoint Siddhartha Lal as managing director, with effect from 1 May.
Earlier on 17 August, the shareholders, at the company’s 39th Annual General Meeting (AGM) had rejected the proposal for the re-appointment of Lal as MD. The shareholders had also rejected the payment of remuneration to Lal.
“The matter pertaining to the appointment of Siddhartha Lal as managing director and the remuneration proposal was discussed comprehensively, and the board unanimously decided to reappoint Siddhartha Lal as Managing Director, with effect from May 1, 2021,” the company said in a regulatory filing.
Speaking about the outcome of the AGM and specifically about the remuneration issue, EML chairman, S Sandilya said, “The Nomination and Remuneration Committee (NRC) of the company has considered all the factors, including inputs from various stakeholders including institutional investors before recommending remuneration for key managerial persons. The primary concern with investors was not Siddhartha’s reappointment as managing director or the proposed compensation; it was the lack of clarity regarding the enabling provision that potentially allowed payment of remuneration upto 3 per cent of profits.”
“Over the last four years, we have had the same limit of 3 per cent, but in reality have paid only a fraction of that amount. The actual remuneration during FY2021 was at 1.04 per cent of profits, with the preceding years being at a lower percentage,” Sandilya added.
Given the background of actual remuneration paid to the managing director in preceding years, the board has now approved a revised remuneration structure for the managing director, with a maximum cap of 1.5 per cent of profits as per Section 198 of the Companies Act, the company further stated.
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.
