MAM
Manish Sharma becomes chairman and president at Panasonic India
Mumbai: Japanese electronics major Panasonic Corp on Monday announced the promotion of Manish Sharma to chairman and president of Panasonic India. In his new role, Sharma will assume responsibility for leading the Panasonic operational excellence India, and Panasonic India appliances company, lifestyle updates business division.
earlier served as the president & CEO at Panasonic India and South Asia and he was the first Indian and the youngest leader to become an executive officer at the organisation. Joined in 2008, Sharma has been pivotal in spearheading the growth and transformation of Panasonic India from a consumer electronics company to a technology solutions company, said the company in a statement.
Sharma had joined the organisation as a marketing lead for Panasonic’s consumer electronics and home appliances division. In 2010, he was elevated to the position of director of sales and marketing, after which he became the managing director of Panasonic India in April 2012, and in 2016, he was moved to the position of CEO of the business. Prior to Panasonic, Sharma worked with Haier, Samsung, and LG Hotline in the past.
“It is an honour to assume this new role to broaden the brand’s vision,” Sharma said on his new role. “I look forward to strengthening Panasonic’s business in the region with a strong partner and customer ecosystem as well as pursuing new opportunities that will propel the company into the next stage of growth.”
MAM
Sameer Nair shares heartfelt note as he exits Applause Entertainment
After nine years building the streamer’s content engine, one of India’s best-known TV men is moving on
MUMBAI: Sameer Nair is out. The chief executive of Applause Entertainment, the content studio backed by Kumar Mangalam Birla’s media empire, has announced his departure after nearly nine years at the helm, closing the chapter on one of Indian entertainment’s more quietly consequential careers.
Nair, who built Applause from the ground up in its current avatar, oversaw a slate that spanned Indian originals and international adaptations, threading together a hub-and-spoke business model that partnered with streaming platforms, broadcasters and production houses alike. The results were uneven, as they always are in content, but the ambition was not.
In a post on LinkedIn, Nair was generous to his outgoing patron. He thanked Birla for being an “inspirational boss and a great patron of the arts,” and signed off with a cheerful “Au Revoir” and a promise to remain Applause’s biggest cheerleader. Whether that sentiment survives the next chapter remains to be seen.
No successor has been named. Applause Entertainment did not immediately comment.
Nair built the machine. Now someone else has to run it — and in a streaming market that is simultaneously consolidating and convulsing, that is no small ask.
