MAM
Macmillan’s Bangalore facility launched
BANGALORE: Publishing firm Macmillan India Ltd has opened its book typesetting division in Bangalore. With this entry, the company aims to become a major supplier of books and major references typesetting.
MIL’s new book typesetting unit is spread over an area of 23,000 sq ft and five floors in central Bangalore. The state-of-the-art facility with a modern data centre can accommodate more than 500 staff.
The centre was inaugurated by Macmillan India LTD chairman and Macmillan UK CEO Richard Charkin. Macmillan (UK) director Michael Barnard and Macmillan India LTD (MIL) director Rajiv Beri were present at the occasion.
Speaking at the inauguration, Richard Charkin said, “Macmillan has been present in India for more than 100 years now and our substantial investment in this new facility marks a significant next stage in this long and successful association. The Bangalore operation will rapidly become a global center of excellence for Macmillan, playing a key role in providing new and additional world class services for our customers.”
At present 175 people are working from this new site and Macmillan has plans to have 300 people in 2005 and 500 by 2006. Current capacity is fully booked by present customers and they are planning rapid expansion to enhance production capacity. With their new expansion plan for book typesetting, they expect to generate revenue of around $4 million by 2006 from this division.
Macmillan India head Rajiv Beri said, “Information Processing division of Macmillan was formed way back in 1977 and since then we have been the leading supplier of typesetting, data processing and information processing. In an indirect way, we could say we were already outsourcing from here 28 years ago, even before Bangalore became well established for its role as the leading Indian city for locating offshore operations. Our highly skilled workforce prides itself on the best quality at highly competitive prices”.
MAM
Microsoft names Asha Sharma CEO of Gaming division
Nadella appoints AI exec to lead Xbox after Phil Spencer’s retirement; 500 million MAUs mark new era from 20 February 2026.
MUMBAI: Xbox just levelled up its leadership and this time the boss comes with an AI cheat code. On 20 February 2026, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced Asha Sharma as the new executive vice president and CEO of Microsoft Gaming, overseeing the Xbox empire from Redmond, Washington. She steps into the role after Phil Spencer, who led the division since 2014, announced his retirement. The move follows the earlier departure of Xbox president Sarah Bond.
Nadella, writing on the Microsoft Corporate blog said, “I am long on gaming and its role at the center of our consumer ambition… Asha has helped build and scale services that reach billions of people and support thriving consumer and developer ecosystems.” He highlighted Sharma’s track record scaling platforms at global level from her time as chief operating officer at Instacart and vice president at Meta Platforms to her recent stint as president of Microsoft’s CoreAI product division since joining in 2024.
Sharma, a Carlson School of Management graduate with a BSc in Business, has held product leadership roles at Meta, board seats at Home Depot and Coupang, and worked on AI initiatives like Foundry, a platform embedding AI models into third-party apps. She described gaming as “a fusion of art and technology, empowering creators worldwide to push the boundaries of hardware and software.”
Microsoft Gaming boasts more than 500 million monthly active users, cementing its spot as one of the world’s top platforms. This autumn marks the 25th anniversary of the division (the original Xbox launched in 2001), a milestone Sharma will steer alongside renewed AI-driven innovation.
Matt Booty, head of Microsoft’s gaming studios, will report to Sharma as executive vice president and chief content officer. Nadella praised the duo for blending consumer product savvy with deep gaming expertise to fuel platform advances and content pipelines.
Industry eyes are fixed on how Xbox consoles fare against Sony and Nintendo amid fierce competition. Whether Sharma’s AI background sparks a new golden age for Xbox or simply keeps the lights on remains the big boss-level question but one thing’s clear, the next chapter of gaming at Microsoft just got a fresh player with serious strategic depth.
