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MSL India announces new appointments to key leadership roles
MUMBAI: Publicis Groupe’s strategic communications and engagement firm, MSL India has announced three key leadership appointments, including MSL Bengaluru lead, head of Talent & Culture, and Mumbai lead for FinComm practice. The leadership hires include Ajit Pai as MSL Bengaluru- vice president and lead, Shreela Roy as MSL Mumbai vice president & lead – FinCom practice, and Rajesh Narwankar as MSL India vice president & head of talent & culture.
The strategic hires signify the firm’s continued endeavour to strengthen client relations and build a dynamic workplace that allows growth for all colleagues, said the company in a statement.
Commenting on the appointments, MSL South and South East Asia CEO Amit Misra said, “I am delighted to welcome Ajit, Rajesh and Shreela to MSL. Their collective experience, talent and expertise will be a core ingredient in building a dynamic business environment and furthering our growth. I am confident that their addition to the team will compliment our operations and help us continue enhancing impact for our clients & colleagues.”
Ajit Pai joins MSL with over 17 years of experience in the PR domain. He will be leading MSL Bengaluru and will be responsible for strengthening client relations in the South. Prior to joining MSL, Pai worked with leading PR consultancies such as Adfactors PR, Edelman, APCO Worldwide and BCW.
Shreela Roy brings an extensive 15+ years of experience and knowledge in driving multi-stakeholder integrated communications campaigns across banking, financial services & insurance, private equity, real estate, infrastructure & professional services. Prior to this appointment, Roy was director for corporate & financial practice at Genesis BCW. A few clients that Roy has managed include organisations such as Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Kotak, ICICI Group, DBS, HDFC Life, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, JP Morgan, KPMG, Boston Consulting Group, and Vodafone PLC.
With 15 years of experience in Human Resources, Rajesh Narwankar will lead resource management at MSL and enforce innovative talent movement processes to create a sustainable people infrastructure. His domain expertise lies in talent engagement, HR analytics, performance management and HR Operations. This will be his second stint within the Publicis Groupe ecosystem, as he previously led the same role at Leo Burnett. He has also worked with other organisations including PwC, Edelman & BMR Advisors.
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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.
