Surprise Exits at STAR India

MUMBAI, January 23: Two longtime STAR India staffers, Peter
Mukerjea and Sameer Nair, have announced that they are leaving the company.

Mukerjea, the CEO of STAR Group India, will leave the company
at the end of this month. Nair, the CEO of STAR Entertainment India, will exit
at the end of March.

The surprise resignations come just two weeks since Michelle
Guthrie announced she would be stepping down as CEO of the parent STAR Group.
Paul Aiello, Guthrie’s successor, has been tapped as acting CEO of STAR India,
which comprises the two divisions STAR Group India and STAR Entertainment
India. The former, led by Mukerjea, encompassed the legal, finance and
investment groups, while the latter, Nair’s division, was responsible for
programming, marketing and new media. "The transformation of Star India
into the leading television network in the country came in no small part due to
their leadership," Aiello said in a statement.

Mukerjea was instrumental in rebranding STAR Plus as a
Hindi-language entertainment channel driven by original productions, and Nair
is credited with bringing the format Who Wants to be a Millionaire? to India. The local version, Kaun Banega
Crorepati, remains STAR Plus’s biggest success
story.

It is not clear what prompted the resignations. Nair is said
to be headed off to NDTV to oversee its new entertainment joint venture with
film director Karan Johar. Mukerjea, meanwhile, is joining headhunter INX
Services as chairman.