Sanjay Gupta’s departure a big personal loss to me: Uday Shankar

Uday Shankar, President, The Walt Disney Company, APAC & Chairman of Star & Disney India, has called Sanjay Gupta’s departure from the organisation as “a big personal loss to me” and added that it will leave “a void in my life that would be impossible to fill”. 

In an internal mail to Star India employees, Shankar wrote, “So critical has been Sanjay Gupta’s contribution in building Star India into one of the finest and most successful M&E companies in Asia that I would be undermining his contribution.” “There is no one quite gifted as Sanjay in the entire Indian M&E sector. Based on my experience, I can say that there are few like him,” he added. 

“But that’s life. The great company that Sanjay built must continue to scale greater heights,” Shankar wrote in the email, adding that the entire team would need to deal with Gupta’s absence “with as little disruption as possible”. 

As reported earlier, Gupta has put down his papers as Country Manager, Star & Disney India. He is moving to Google as VP - South East Asia operations, a role previously held by Rajan Anandan.