MAM
Publicis Media India makes key restructure and appointments
MUMBAI: Publicis Media today unveiled structure and leadership appointments for its organisation, as announced Publicis Media, India CEO Anupriya Acharya. As per the announcement,
Mallikarjun Das (Malli) has been appointed Group CEO of Starcom India. His team will include Sarfaraz Khimani, Co-CEO Performics.Convonix, Pallav Jain, Co-CEO Performics.Convonix, Basabdatta Chowdhuri who now takes on the role of national COO, Starcom India.
Furthermore, Tanmay Mohanty has been appointed as Zenith India Group CEO., with Performics.Resultrix MD Mayoori Kango in his team.
“One of the greatest strengths of our new organization in India is its team of leaders, all of which have proven track records within our system. They have been integral in accomplishing what we have in the last 2-3 years and now committed to setting strategy and charting the course for the new organization,” Acharya said.
She added, “The new structure that follows the framework of the global vision is fully equipped to fit the future and best serve our clients. It is a fresh opportunity to simplify our organisation, invent more modern approaches to gain effectiveness and efficiency, introduce structures for greater collaboration, and drive new levels of client value and delight”.
Publicis Media, India will consolidate its agency brands: Starcom Mediavest, Zenith Optimedia, Equinox, Performics, Convonix, Resultrix, Ninah, Newcast into four agency brands that are in line with the global structure, namely: Starcom , Zenith, Mediavest | Spark, Optimedia | Blue 449
In this new model, the agency network names of Starcom Mediavest Group and ZenithOptimedia Group are retired to better enable a flatter organisational structure. VivaKi capabilities will be fully integrated into Publicis Media’s Global Practice model. Performics will remain Publicis Media’s global performance marketing brand and scale within all agency brands.
Apart from the two CEO appointments for Starcom India and Zenith India, other key appointments the media agency giant announced are as follows
Dnyanada Chaudhari will lead Publicis Media Exchange
Santosh Ghosh will lead Data, Technology & Innovation
Aarti Bharadwaj will lead Analytics, Research & Insight
Gautham Pingali will lead Business Transformation and Content
Communications will be led by Anushree Chandran.
At a Publicis Media India level, Rajesh Viswanathan is appointed Chief Financial Officer, Saswati Sinha is appointed Chief Talent Officer.
Starcom Chairman Hanley King has moved on to a global role within Publicis Media, his role is taken over by Malli
Zenith Managing Director Hari Krishnan is also moving on to pursue other opportunities. Comments Anupriya, “We thank Hari for all his contributions and wish him the best. Another key appointment in Zenith, under Tanmay’s leadership will be announced in due course.”
Brands
UpGrad to acquire Unacademy in share-swap deal, founders confirm
Proposed share-swap could unite two edtech rivals as sector eyes consolidation
MUMBAI: The Indian edtech sector may be inching toward another wave of consolidation, with online learning platform upGrad signing a term sheet to acquire rival Unacademy in an all stock transaction.
If completed, the deal would bring together two of the country’s most prominent education technology companies at a time when the sector is adjusting to slower demand and a sharper focus on profitability after the pandemic driven boom.
UpGrad founder and chairperson Ronnie Screwvala confirmed the development in a post on X, stating that Unacademy co-founder and chief executive Gaurav Munjal would continue to lead the company following the acquisition.
“We at upGrad have signed a term sheet to acquire Unacademy in an all stock deal, with founder and ceo Gaurav Munjal staying on to build Unacademy and focus on what it does best, creating online education products that learners love,” Screwvala wrote.
He added that the agreement includes a break fee provision if the transaction fails to close. Screwvala also said the combined entity could strengthen upGrad’s integrated learning model spanning K12 education, professional training and lifelong learning.
Unacademy confirmed that the proposed transaction will be executed through a 100 per cent share swap, with the valuation to be disclosed only after the deal closes and regulatory filings are completed.
Announcing the development on X, Munjal described the agreement as the beginning of a new chapter for both companies and the wider edtech ecosystem.
He noted that Unacademy had spent the past year reshaping its operations to focus more sharply on online education products. Among the steps taken were consolidating company operated offline centres with franchise partners and launching a Rs 50 crore employee stock ownership plan buyback, in which around 40 per cent of former employees have already participated.
Munjal also highlighted the traction gained by Airlearn, the company’s language learning product, which he said is expanding in markets including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada.
“Our cash reserves as of today are more than $100 million,” he said.
The proposed deal also marks a turnaround from earlier talks between the two companies that had stalled over disagreements on valuation and structure. Previous discussions had placed Unacademy’s valuation in the range of $300 million to $400 million, according to media reports.
If the transaction goes through, Munjal will continue as co-founder and chief executive of Unacademy, focusing on building online learning products for students in India and global markets.
For upGrad, the acquisition would broaden its footprint across the education spectrum, from school level learning to professional upskilling and lifelong education.
The move comes as India’s edtech sector enters a more sober phase after years of rapid expansion. Companies across the industry have been trimming costs, restructuring operations and seeking scale to build more sustainable businesses.
Against that backdrop, the potential combination of upGrad and Unacademy could signal that the next phase of edtech growth may be driven less by blitzscaling and more by strategic partnerships and consolidation.
