MAM
Royal Enfield CEO Vinod Dasari moves on, B Govindarajan new ED
Mumbai: Eicher Motors has announced that Royal Enfield chief executive officer Vinod K Dasari has stepped down from the company. Dasari has also resigned as executive director of the board of Eicher Motors. The resignation will come into effect from 13 August. Dasari will be succeeded by B Govindarajan, who has been the chief operating officer of Royal Enfield since 2013.
Dasari’s decision to move on is to dedicate time and energy to pursue his passion and ambition in affordable healthcare. He recently set up and inaugurated a not-for-profit hospital in Chennai. “It has been a very memorable ride over the last two years and more at Royal Enfield. I have decided to move on, so I can dedicatedly follow a personal passion that has been close to me for many years now,” said Dasari.
Prior to joining Royal Enfield in April 2019, Dasari was the CEO and managing director of Ashok Leyland, a position he held since 2011. He had joined Ashok Leyland as CEO in 2005.
“Vinod has made significant contributions to the organisation,” said Eicher Motors MD, Siddhartha Lal. “Right from his unwavering focus on customer-facing digital properties, to driving network expansion, to building several new services and solutions-oriented initiatives, he has helped the company take giant steps forward. He also very ably led the company through tough and unprecedented times over the last year and a half.”
B Govindarajan, who has spent more than 23 years across Royal Enfield and Eicher Motors, will be inducted as a whole time director on the board of Eicher Motors and will take charge as executive director of Royal Enfield from 18 August, the company said.
“Govind brings on board an astute understanding of the industry, with strong technical know-how, combined with a sharp strategic outlook and operational excellence,” Siddhartha Lal stated. “He has led several turnkey projects for Royal Enfield and has been instrumental in growing and expanding our manufacturing facilities, in bringing a paradigm shift in our product quality, delivery and development process, and in setting up our two state-of-the-art technology centres in India and the UK.”
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.
