Gautam Thakar appointed as CEO of Star Sports

Gautam Thakar, former CEO of LivingSocial, will be soon stepping into the shoes of Nitin Kukreja, who quit Star India as CEO of Star Sports in March 2017. Thakar is expected to take charge from January 15, 2018. 

The appointment comes close on the heels of Star India acquiring the television and digital broadcast rights of Indian Premier League (IPL), which is slated to be held in May 2018. 

Thakar, an internet entrepreneur, has over 15 years of management experience in the development of consumer and internet businesses. After quitting LivingSocial as its President & CEO in February this year, Thakar has been a venture partner with Washington DC based NextGen Venture Partners. He has also been working part-time with Steve Case’s fund (Revolution LLC) in DC since September 2017 to help portfolio companies across their growth and venture funds as well as the travel business. 

In the course of his career, Thakar has also worked across large (P&G, eBay), mid-size (Shopping.com) and start-up (baazee.com) companies.