ZEE rejig: Punit Goenka assumes direct charge; key roles for Amit Goenka, Umesh Bansal

• Punit Goenka assumes direct charge of critical business verticals
• Amit Goenka to continue leading the Digital Business, and take additional charge of the International Broadcast Business, Enterprise Technology, Broadcast Operations & Engineering
• Umesh Bansal to lead the Movies business
• Anurag Bedi to continue leading the Music business

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd’s (ZEEL) Board of Directors, today approved the streamlined organization structure proposed by MD & CEO Punit Goenka, which is in line with his strategic plan focused on enhancing the performance and profitability levels across the company.

Under the guidance of the Board, the organization structure has been designed with speed and agility at the forefront, in order to nurture collaboration and leverage synergies amongst the core business segments which include Broadcast, Digital, Movies and Music.

The lean organization structure also lays emphasis on the elevation of key team members across businesses. The composition of the new structure approved by the Board is as follows:

Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, will assume direct charge of the critical business verticals, including the Domestic Broadcast Business. The following leaders will report directly into the MD & CEO:

• Siju Prabhakaran, who has successfully led the South cluster of channels, will take additional responsibility of the West cluster, further fortifying the performance in the mentioned markets.
• Samrat Ghosh, who has successfully led the East cluster of channels, will take additional responsibility of North & Premium cluster.
• Ruchir Tiwari will continue to lead the Hindi Movies cluster, with a sharp focus on quality entertainment.
• Vishnu Shankar will continue to lead & TV and the FTA segment.
• Ashish Sehgal will be responsible for Integrated Advertisement Sales for the Broadcast and Digital business, to maximize value for the advertisers with a sharp focus on profitability. In this enhanced role for the Digital business revenue, Sehgal will also report into Amit Goenka. For the Broadcast business revenue, he will continue to report into Punit Goenka.

Leveraging his deep understanding of the rapidly evolving digital entertainment landscape, Amit Goenka will continue to lead the Digital Business for the company, taking direct charge of original content (including movies). He will assume additional charge of the International Broadcast Business, Enterprise Technology and Broadcast Operations & Engineering, leveraging synergies between the business segments to drive higher growth. In this role, he will continue to report into the MD & CEO.

Leveraging his domain expertise and understanding of content production, strategy, movies acquisition and syndication, Umesh Bansal will lead the Movies business for the company. In this role, he will report into the MD & CEO.

With his vast expertise in the music acquisition and publishing segment, Anurag Bedi will continue to lead the Music business and enhance the vertical’s contribution to the company’s bottom-line. He will continue to report into the MD & CEO.

All Corporate Functions will continue to report into Punit Goenka. The new structure is effective immediately.

R Gopalan, Chairman, ZEE, said, “The Board has reviewed and approved the lean organization structure proposed by the MD & CEO, which    aims at streamlining the organization and improving efficiencies across the business. The strong and capable set of leaders identified for each core business segment in the lateral structure are highly reflective of the company’s deep bench strength and ensure that the company remains well-positioned for the future. We are confident that a lean team under the leadership of Punit, will enable the company to achieve its set goals and priorities for the future, further generating higher value for the shareholders.”

Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, ZEE, said, “I remain grateful to the Board for recognizing our efforts to arrive at a streamlined organization structure. In line with our approach towards maintaining a sharp focus on profitability, the new structure encompasses a more resilient team for the organization to ensure agility and collaboration. Through this restructuring exercise, our aim has been to build an independent and enterprising team led by an experienced set of leaders to drive the company forward. I look forward to working closely with the teams to chart robust growth and achieve our strategic priorities for the company.”

Frugality, Optimization and a Sharp Focus on Quality Content are the three key tenets of the plan implemented by the management, and the lean organization design is in line with this approach.