Arnab Goswami's Rs 200-crore Republic of Money

Brash, bigoted, fake news peddler, news messiah of right-wingers...Arnab Goswami has been called by many names by those who track him. It is often a love-him-hate-him-but still watch-him relationship for his detractors. For his ardent desh-bhakt type followers, Arnab, with his high-decibel anchoring, is the deserved sultan of real TV news irrespective of the charges that he seems partisan, jingoistic to the point of no return.

Arnab has set the TV news agenda for many years. First it was at Times Now and now at Republic TV. This blog post is not about the spectacled blabbermouth character he successfully plays on national TV, or the sun-glass wearing personality that even funny-bone Kunal Kamra couldn't get to react much during that famous on-air interview. 

This blog post is about how Arnab has so far managed the financial agenda. To find out, I went to the all-powerful MCA (Ministry Of Corporate Affairs) website and accessed financial details of his company. 

It is only fair that once in a while media - which wants 100% transparency from all -- be put under the same microscope especially, for the finances. 

Arnab Goswami is a director in 3 entities: SARG Media Holding private Limited, ARG Outlier Media Asianet News Private Limited, and SARG Global Digital Private Limited. This blog post is mostly about ARG Outlier Media company. ARG stands for Arnab Ranjan Goswami. 

ARG Outlier Media Private Limited is the old name of the company. In fact, Arnab and his spouse, Samyabrata Ray Goswami, became directors in ARG soon after Arnab quit Times Now in 2016. Later, ARG got investment from entities associated with Rajeev Chandrasekhar (a BJP Rajya Sabha MP who controls Asianet). So subsequently, ARG Outlier Media became ARG Outlier Media Asianet News Private Limited. In 2018, Rajeev stepped down from the Republic TV board. In April 2020, another name change happened and now it is back to ARG Outlier Media (back to square one!).

Who are the shareholders?

As on March 31, 2019, the list of shareholders of ARG Outlier Media had Arnab Goswami (0.03%), SARG Media Holding Private Limited (67.12% through equity and 13.65% through Series B - CCPPS), Asianet News Media & Entertainment Private Limited (16.35% through Series A - CCPPS and 0.03% through Series A equity shares), and 4 Kolkata-based entities: RPG Power Trading Company Limited (1.02% through Series C - CCPPS), Anant Udyog LLP (0.77% through Series C - CCPPS), Purvanchal Leasing Limited (0.51% through Series C - CCPPS) and Dynamic Storage and Retrieval Systems Private Limited (0.51% through Series C - CCPPS). 

The last 4 entities subscribed to over 8,300 Series C - CCPPS in FY19. CCPPS is Compulsorily Convertible Participative Preference Shares.

The above broad shareholding has undergone a change in some respects. 

In a statement in February 2020, Republic Media Network had said Goswami holds over 82% of ARG Outlier Media Private Limited, the company that owns and operates Republic TV. His company also owns 99% equity in the downstream digital entity (SARG Global Digital) that controls the digital assets of the network. 

Turns out that on the second anniversary of the channel, Goswami in May 2019 bought a chunk of shares held by Rajeev Chandrasekhar-promoted Asianet News Media & Entertainment to gain ownership. Asianet News had at the time of selling shares to Goswami signalled that Republic TV''s valuation was about Rs 1,200 crore.

We will update you when we get the March 31, 2020 shareholding data on ARG Outlier Media.

Who provides financing help to ARG Outlier Media?

Regulatory filings usually give a dated but accurate idea of bankers/financiers. MCA filings show charges created or modified for each company. I came across filings that suggested Rs 10 crore charge creation in favour of Hero Fincorp, a Rs 35 crore charge created against the security of book debts and receivables in favour of HDFC Bank etc. This could be in form fresh working capital and cash credit facility. There was also a charge created in favour of Yes Bank.

In order to obtain the licence for TV broadcasting, ARG Outlier provided a bank guarantee worth Rs 4 crore in favour of I&B Ministry. This bank guarantee will subsist during the tenure of the licence.

As on March 2019, ARG Outlier Media had Rs 43.50 crore indebtedness. There is a large amount indebtedness addition in FY19. The Hindi news channel Republic TV Bharat was launched during FY19. So, the debt could be due to the fact.

While the English news channel achieved EBITDA breakeven in its 1st year of operations, the Hindi news channel, launched in February 2019, is yet to achieve EBITDA breakeven. The company has to invest money in its digital platforms (website - www.republicworld.com, and mobile application - R.) , both of which will not immediately report profits as well. 

One must remember that since both Republic being free-to-air (FTA) channels, the revenues of the company are largely dependent on advertisements. In 2017, ahead of Republic TV launch, 8 brands (Vivo, Jio Digital Life, Renault, Hike, Ola, Star India, Yes Bank and Microsoft) reportedly had decided to associate with the then upcoming television channel. 

What kind of sales and profits/losses does ARG Outlier Media have?

Total income for FY19 for ARG Outlier Media was Rs 200 crore, up 27% from Rs 157 odd crore in FY18. According to ICRA, revenue profile of ARG is dominated by advertisement revenues, which accounted for 77% of its FY19 revenues. The loss after tax in FY19 was Rs 18.7 crore, a sharp increase from the loss of Rs 0.77 crore in FY18.

We must bear in mind that while the experienced management of ARG Outlier Media and the strong market position of its English news channel in a relatively short period in its addressable segment are positives, it is not immune to the initial gestation period of TV channels. 

FY20 numbers will be crucial because they will show whether Republic Bharat enjoys increased advertisement revenues in full year of operations. Ramp up in its digital platforms will also be a key thing to watch out for. However, the vulnerability of an advertisement revenue-driven business profile always exists. There is a certain degree of cyclicality in advertisement spends by the corporates. Plus, the competition from news TV channel rivals is rising.

ARG Outlier's subsidiary SARG Global Digital Private Limited clocked a turnover of Rs 10.53 crore and loss was Rs 1.75 crore in FY19.

What are the company's top compensation details?

In terms of compensation, managing director Arnab Goswami was paid Rs 2.45 crore as remuneration while his spouse, Samyabrata Ray Goswami was paid Rs 44 lakh in FY19. Company secretary Mohit Dhamne received nearly Rs 57 lakh. Arnab's remuneration stayed largely flat compared to FY18. Samyabrata's remuneration went up by 20% from FY18 pay packet. 

Also, ARG Outlier has a ESOP scheme. CEO Vikas Khanchandani was granted 3328 options. Vikas got a remuneration of Rs 2.53 crore in FY18 compared to Rs 1.38 crore in FY18, up a whopping 83%. Content & production head Charu Thakur was granted 2171 options, distribution and international revenues head Priya Mukherjee was granted 1447 options and CFO S Sundaram was granted 1447 options. The options granted are near FY18 levels.   

The company paid a total of Rs 46.4 crore in salaries, wages and bonus in FY19, up 38% from Rs 33.6 crore in FY18.

Additional Reading

Arnab's India TV debate impact - https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2020/02/brash-bigoted-arnab-goswami-changed-india-tv-debate-200218072035580.html

Arnab’s Republic of Investors - https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/arnab-s-republic-investors-who-funding-goswami-and-what-means-55667

Times Group owner Vineet Jain's Rs 90-cr+ remuneration; CEO Raj Jain's pay packet n more

Times Group owner Vineet Jain's Rs 90-cr+ remuneration; CEO Raj Jain's pay packet n more

Disclaimer: The data in this blog post is for 'educational' and 'informative' purposes only. The author is not responsible for you being depressed when you hear others getting crores while you get peanuts!

It 'pays' to be the first family of Indian media. One gets to decide if fellow countrymen and women should see close-ups of Deepika Padukone's cleavage, or whether 'India' 'today' can be spared of those well-paying but irritating jacket ads on the first page of the 'news'paper. Bennett Coleman And Company Limited, BCCL, is the firm that publishes The Times of India, The Economic Times, Navbharat Times, Maharashtra Times and Mumbai Mirror. As you can guess, it prints tonnes of newsprint and makes a hell lot of money. How much? Read on.

Vital stats

In FY15 (April 2014 to March 2015), BCCL on a standalone basis raked in Rs 1186.24 crore as net profit. This was a nice 44 per cent jump from FY14 when BCCL had logged in a bottom-line of Rs 821.16 crore. Profits are on an upswing given that average net profits of the company for the last three financial years was Rs. 1049.03 crore. Profits are toeing topline rise. Total turnover in FY15 stood at Rs 6,368.70 crore, up 14.5% from Rs 5560.59 crore in FY14. Pretty impressive! (Check back by October/November 2016 to find what happened in FY16)

Apart from popular print business, BCCL has key TV assets like TIMES NOW, ET NOW, Zoom and Romedy Now channels. Then there is Times Music. Plus, there are other stuff like Bennett Institute of Higher Education, Times Jobs Limited, Magic Bricks Reality Services, Times Internet, ENIL, Brand Equity Treaties, Mirchi Movies etc. TIMES NOW has now been brought under the fold of BCCL. Earlier, TIMES NOW was part of Times Global Broadcasting Co.

Money 'maliks'

Enough blah, blah. Let's get to the interesting part of salaries.

Fifty something BCCL Managing Director Vineet Jain, who individually owns 1642248 shares in BCCL (apart from his family holding through entities), 'took' home Rs 909,171,581.33 or Rs 90 crore plus as remuneration. Vineet and brother Samir are the sons of Times Group super boss, Indu Jain. 

In 2014, he paid himself one of the biggest salaries in Corporate India history. He paid himself an eye-popping Rs 463,767,952 (Rs 46.37 crore) as remuneration in that year! Vineet is known to be friends with all the big shots in India, including politicians, ministers, actors, cricketers and diplomats. As some say, he can pull the right string almost everywhere with alacrity.

Getting Rs 90.9 crore as remuneration in FY15 is pure awesome! Its a lot of money, make no mistake. That's like my earnings, the annual income of my 100 neighbors and yes, add my entire locality as well!

Spiritually inclined Samir Jain, who is known to spend more time at Hardwar than in business, as Vice Chairman & Managing Director got Rs 337,678,122.33 or Rs 33.7 crore. So, Samir Jain theoretically earned one-third of his younger brother. In FY14, BCCL had clocked about 821 crore in net profits. Vineet Jain, by that measure, all by himself in that year got about 5.5 per cent of the company's bottom line. In FY15, he got paid Rs 90.92 crore or nearly 8 per cent of the year's bottom-line. This is incredible!

With his huuuuuuuuge salary, Vineet beats the even the most well-paid CEOs in the country. For instance, Kalanithi Maran and Kavery Kalanithi of Sun TV Network are among the highest paid CEOs among 'listed firms' in 2014-15 with annual packages of Rs 61.27 crore (Rs 612.7 million) and Rs 61.26 crore (Rs 612.6 million), respectively. They were followed by Pawan Kant Munjal, Hero MotoCorp boss at the third position with a package of Rs 44.62 crore. Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman Aditya Birla Group was ranked fourth with a salary package of Rs 44.56 crore. Interestingly, India’s richest businessman, Mukesh Ambani is ranked at 33 with a salary of Rs 15 crore annually. Mukesh-ji has capped his annual salary, but continues to rake in big cash through dividends of course (winks).

BCCL VC and MD Samir Jain was paid Rs 15.17 crore in FY'13 against Rs 14.82 crore in FY12, He seems to be doing the 'dharma' bit while brother Vineet does the 'dhanda' part. Vineet Jain got remuneration of Rs 14.90 crore in FY'13 compared to Rs 14.57 crore in FY'12. In just three years, Vineet has grown his salary by six-fold - from Rs 14.5 crore to Rs 90 crore and counting.

Lastly, matriarch Indu Jain, BCCL Chairman, got just Rs 16.08 crore as remuneration for FY15. She is one the women billionaires on the elite Forbes list and is reportedly an Osho devotee. As you know, she is also a Padma awardee.

If you include the dividends that Vineet and the owners got, the remuneration kitty would become bigger. Here's how. The unlisted BCCL is wholly controlled by the Sahu Jain family.  BCCL's balance sheet shows Rs 40.8 crore worth dividends were 'paid' out between April 2014 to March 2015. That's like 100% jump over Rs 20.14 crore worth dividends paid in FY14. The distribution will be in proportion to the number of equity shares held by the shareholders. Not individuals, but BCCL is mostly controlled by corporate bodies, who own 98.97% of the biggest media company. This entities, which may be directly/indirectly controlled by Jains, include Sanmati Properties, Bharat Nidhi, PNB Finance & Industries, Camac Commercial, Arth Udyog, Jacaranda Corporate Services, TM Investments and Ashoka Viniyoga.

Satyan Gajwani, son in law of the Jain family, earned Rs 2.32 crore. Satyan played a role in bringing Vice Media of US to India. Vice will use all Times Group assets including Times NOW (its flagship news channel) to build the brand here. You would have noticed an entity called Times Global Partners (TGP) brokered deals in India including BCCL partnerships with marquee global brands such as Huffington Post, Ad Age and Business Insider.

Naukar, chakars

Don't be offended with the sub-head. There are Rs 100-crore nearing MD cum owners... and the rest of this gigantic media group. Just how much were the employees paid in FY15? Here's the list.


CEO

Former BCCL CEO Ravindra Dhariwal got Rs 18.78 crore in FY15. Dhariwal in 2015 joined TPG as senior advisor after retiring from BCCL. He was replaced by former Wal-Mart executive Raj Jain. In picking Jain, BCCL apparently passed up two high-profile internal candidates—COO Shrijeet Mishra and President (Response) Arunabh Das Sharma (has now quit), and that caused some internal discomfort. People say Mishra was tipped to succeed Dhariwal but the company eventually looked outside.

Aligarh-born Raj Jain has got him a good deal at BCCL. His contract is till March 2020.

Fixed salary for FY16 will be Rs 4.45 crore. Target variable pay for FY16 would be Rs 1 crore. So, he could earn Rs 5.45 crore from just fixed salary and TVP. In FY17, he could earn Rs 5.86 crore (fixed salary - Rs 4.81 crore plus TVP - Rs 1.05 crore). Additionally, his total annual cash pay-out will be maximum Rs 6 crore for FY16 and FY17. Perks include Rs 64-lakh worth Mercedes Benz ML 250, club facility and leave encashment.

Journos

Former ABP hand Jaideep Bose, the all-important Editorial Director at BCCL, received Rs 2.47 crore.

Rahul Joshi, another Editorial Director who has now joined as CEO News of Network 18, got Rs 1.82 crore.

R Sridharan, Managing Editor, received Rs 1.3 crore. Sridharan has since then quit. Arnab Goswami took over charge of ET NOW after Sridharan left. This happened because another key ET NOW man Shailendra Swaroop Bhatnagar, Chief Editor-Markets & Research, also had quit in July 2015. In FY15, Shailendra received Rs 1.05 crore. He is now a passive investor.

Former NDTV hand, Nikunj Dalmia, ‎who is stocks editor at Times Global - ‎ET NOW, earned Rs 1.15 crore.

Former HT hand Priya Gupta, Senior Vice President at BCCL and Managing Editor of Bombay Times marketing supplement, bagged Rs 86.89 lakh in FY15. She has now joined T-Series as President, Films.

Nabeel Mohideen, National Head-Integrated Desk at The Economic Times, earned Rs 86.75 lakh.

Saubhik Chakrabarti, earlier Assistant Executive Editor and now Deputy Executive Editor at ET, earned Rs 80.4 lakh.

Former Thomson Reuters hand, Santosh Ramachandra Menon, Assistant Executive Editor, received Rs 79.83 lakh. He has left Times Group after serving less than a year as Deputy Executive Editor of The Economic Times. Menon has been hired by Network 18 group as Chief Content Officer for the digital businesses.

Bodhisatva Ganguli, Deputy Executive Editor in FY15, got Rs 78.23 lakh. After Rahul Joshi left, 'Bodhi' became the Executive Editor of The Economic Times and was dragged into the 'sharing' controversy. Times Group took the bold step of linking the target variable pay (TVP) of their journalists and content developer’s salaries with the amount of 'social shares' they are performing.

Meenal Baghel, Editor of Mumbai Mirror, got Rs 67.80 lakh.

Javed Sayed, earlier Associate Editor and now Deputy Executive Editor, The Economic Times, got Rs 65.44 lakh.

Suman Chattopadhyay, Editor of Times Group's Bengali newspaper Ei Samay, earned Rs 63.02 lakh in FY15. He joined ToI Group after failing miserably as a print entrepreneur (Ekdin, a Bengali daily, and Disha, a Bengali magazine).  While he sold Disha to one of  a chit fund group, he reportedly still owns Ekdin.

Brian V Carvalho, Editor - ET Magazine, made Rs 62.26 lakh.

Diwakar, Assistant Executive Editor, got Rs 61.80 lakh. Last we heard, Diwakar was promoted to the post of executive editor. Diwakar was Political Editor at ET before he moved to TOI as Political Editor and Chief of the National Bureau.

Subha Chatterjee, Editor & National Head - Special Projects, got Rs 61.62 lakh. Like many others, he has quit and joined Network 18 group where Subha is Group Editor, Special Projects.

Derick B. Dsa, earlier Assistant Executive Editor, earned Rs 60.18 lakh. He runs Mumbai, and oversees Pune, Nagpur, Goa and Madhya Pradesh ToI while serving as national resource person to template Times City in other editions.

Sugata Ghosh, Chief Editor - News who is a big shot at ET, got Rs 60.05 lakh.

Brand guys 

S. Sivakumar, CEO - Brand Capital, got Rs 5.93 crore. Brand Capital engages with entrepreneurs to provide funding for long-term advertisement solutions.

Former Enam Securities hand Shrenik M Khasgiwala, now Director - Brand Capital, got Rs 1.52 crore.

Sandeep Dahiya, Director - Brand Extension at BCCL, earned Rs 1.51 crore. The group has begun brand extensions with the Femina under which the magazine has partnered with Shoppers Stop to launch Femina Flaunt, a brand of apparel, shoes, bags and accessories. BCCL also plans to get into the men's category and will look to extend its lifestyle and leisure supplement brand ET Panache for the same. Another brand extension seen is the magazine Good Homes, which will be launching products in the home category.

Neeti Chopra, Brand Director - ET, earned Rs 1.43 crore.

Puneet Suri, Director - Brand Capital, got Rs 1.27 crore.

Rajesh Sharma, Director BCCL & National Head - SpringBoard Ventures, Brand Capital, took Rs 1.09 crore in FY15. Spring Board is about funding asset light brands. Provogue Personal Care (Deodrants), Local Banya.com, Peri Peri and Biara (Lingerie), Lifespan (chain of specialised diabetes clinics), Swiss Eagle, Gio Collection, Giardano (affordable luxury) are some of the ventures funded and co-created by Spring Board.

Ramaswamy Gopalkrishnan, earlier VP and now Sr. VP of Brand Capital and National Head, Brand Estate at BCCL, earned Rs 91.80 lakh.

Munish Sabharwal, Vice President at Brand Capital and who earlier worked for IDBI Capital and JM Morgan Stanley, got Rs 87.04 lakh.

Visvanathan Sathappan, Director - Brand Capital, earned Rs 75.03 lakh.

Diwakar Dadoo, a VP who was Investments Lead & Head - Emerging Markets, Brand Capital, got Rs 74.35 lakh. Dadoo now co-heads Equitace Capital, the strategic Portfolio Management and Exit Monetisation arm of Brand Capital of The Times Group.

Malcolm G Raphael, Vice President and Business Head - Brandscope, earned Rs 65.52 lakh.

Anil Kumar, Vice President-Hyderabad, Regional Head - Andhra Pradesh and Kerala - Brand Capital, got remuneration of Rs 64.65 lakh that year.

Sriram Kilambi, Vice President - Brand Capital, earned Rs 62.64 lakh.

Vishal Jadhav, Vice President (Head-Equitace Capital), earned Rs 61.63 lakh.


Ad guys and girls

Arunabh Das Sharma, former President - Response & Executive Director, got Rs 14.43 crore. He quit BCCL in June 2016 after spending 5 years.

Shrijeet Mishra, COO & Executive Director, earned Rs 4.23 crore in FY15. Mishra hails from Odisha. He  is currently spearheading the Times Group's initiative to launch a 'world-class' university.

Joy Chakraborthy, Director, took home Rs 2.86 crore. He was earlier CEO of TV TODAY NETWORK and also worked as Executive director - revenue & niche channels at
Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd.

Nandan Srinath, Director - Response, earned Rs 1.92 crore. He currently leads revenue responsibility for The Economic Times.

Sameer Sainani, Director - Response, earned Rs 1.54 crore. He was earlier Chief Revenue Officer at Radio Mirchi.

Ranjeet Kate, earlier Director (Response) and now board member of WorldWide Media (publishes Femina, Filmfare etc.) and also CEO of Metropolitan Media (which publishes Vijay Karnataka newspaper), received Rs 1.28 crore.

Indira Diesh, Vice President of Times Response, got Rs 90.89 lakh.

Rasesh Pushpvadan Gandhi, earlier AVP and now Vice President - Response, took home Rs 89.01 lakh in FY15.

Teena Singh, another Vice-President, got Rs 79.86 lakh. Teena has since then moved on, ending 31-year long career with BCCL, and joined as Consultant - Marketing, Media Strategy and Sales at Teamwork Arts.

Jnan Prakash Dsouza, Vice President and National Vertical Head - Retail, Clothing & E-Commerce, received Rs 81.11 lakh.

Suchitra Sengupta, AVP and now VP, took home Rs 71.10 lakh. She has independent profit centre responsibilities with particular focus on sales team leadership, cost control, institutional selling.

Punit Jain, Sr VP, got Rs 69.77 lakh. The once brand manager of NBT, Punit is the guy who heads entire sales operations of The Times Group for North India, managing targets and achievements, new launches, team building and brand development.

Devasree Chadha, Associate Vice President - Response (who is Metro head of Kolkata and NE states) earned Rs 68.23 lakh.

Times Internet senior executive Nafisa Thingna, whose last job was in Mid-Day, got Rs 84.09 lakh. Former ABP hand, Gautam Sen, an Associate Vice President who possibly looks after ‘Govt Business’, got Rs 64.19 lakh.

Ninan Thariyan, VP, got Rs 61.58 lakh. He is responsible for over Rs 300 crore of advertising revenue from TN region for Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited, brand owners of publication such as the Times of India & The Economic Times.


Commercial and ops guys

Former GSK Beecham hand Mohit Jain, Executive President - Supply Chain at BCCL, got Rs
2.54 crore.

Former HUL executive, Thiyagarajan Kumar, Director - MAS or Management Assurance Services at BCCL, earned Rs 1.44 crore.

Sidhant Khosla, who earlier worked with Cargil India, as Director (Corporate
Group) at BCCL earned Rs 1.41 crore.

Shyam Shanker, Director - Business and Commercial, earned Rs 1.32 crore. He is essentially a Commodity Buyer with International specialisation in bulk trading & logistics.

Sachin Gupta, formerly Chief Information Officer at BCCL, earned Rs 1.26 crore. From Feb-2016, Sachin joined Havells India Ltd as Senior Vice President & Group CIO.

Sanjay Singh, Director - Modernization at BCCL, earned Rs 1.10 crore.

Meeta Sachdev, Vice President who has been promoted to Sr. VP rank, earned Rs 81.85 lakh. She looks after Strategy and Pricing, Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd. ( Times Group).

Sunil Uppal , Vice President (IT) at BCCL, earned Rs 71.30 lakh.

V S Sundaram, Vice President - Projects, was richer by Rs 70.38 lakh. He has overseen business process re-engineering and change management for ERP etc.

L V M Kishore, Associate Vice President, received Rs 66.94 lakh. He has expertise in supply chain, procurement, logistics.

Sankalp Shrivastava, Assistant Vice President, earned Rs 60.97 lakh. He is the chief buyer of 2 major capex verticals - Production Machinery & IT, and Telecom & Software at BCCL.


HR

Ashok Raparia, Director - Human Resources, made Rs 1.48 crore. He is a name most people who have worked in ToI are aware of. Its his signature at the end of their job appointment letter, mostly.

Among BCCL HR executives, Sidhartha Ganguly, VP, got Rs 74.51 lakh.

Sankha Bhowmick, Vice President - HR, earned Rs 70.20 lakh.

Others

Kotak Mahindra Capital i-banking hand Sanjeev Ramesh Shah, Executive President - Mergers and Acquisitions of BCCL, got Rs 2.52 crore.

Money-man R.S. Narayan, formerly Chief Financial Officer at BCCL, himself got remuneration worth Rs 2.24 crore in FY15. Narayan is now  Chief of Staff at Viacom 18. He is now responsible for mergers and acquisition, internal audit, internal control as well as the admin function while continuing work on improving group level governance.

Sanjeev Vohra, Executive President - Audiences, got Rs 1.78 crore.

Rahul Kansal, Executive President who looks after brand and business strategy for TOI, Mirrors and the company's language brands, earned Rs 1.68 crore.

Sameer Soni, Chief Operating Officer - Event Business (which organises TOIFA for instance), earned Rs 1.61 crore. We read some reports saying he is also Director - International Business at Times Group.

Former Company Secretary of UTV Software Communications, Mohammed Sajid Ali, Vice President - Legal at BCCL, earned Rs 1.15 crore.

Rajesh Kunnath, Director - Corporate, earned Rs 1.10 crore. He has overall responsibility for the Family Office of BCCL promoters.

Kaushal Dalal, Director - Mergers and Acquisition, earned Rs 1.04 crore package.

Former Motorola India hand, Mandar Thakur, who dons the hat of CEO - Music Business at BCCL, made Rs 94.20 lakh.

Kaustuv Chatterjee, Vice President-Languages and now promoted to Sr. VP rank, took home Rs 86.28 lakh. He is Brand and P&L head for Bennett Language brands and leads a team of over 650.

Rakesh Dhamani, Vice President (Finance), was paid Rs 84.17 lakh.

Ashok Sen, Associate Vice President, got Rs 82.09 lakh. He was earlier with Sahujain Services. Sen has an interesting profile. He heads the Central / State Governments / Public Sector / Boards and Corporations and Tenders/Public Notices Vertical on a national scale. Also, he continues to be the 'Art Curator' for The Times of India Group.

Shashank P Chavan, Deputy Director, got Rs 79.93 lakh. Another VP, C.G.Varughese got Rs 89.61 lakh.

Rachna Burman, Senior Vice President - Corporate who claims expertise in Operations, Policy & Regulatory issues for the media industry, took home Rs 75.61 lakh.

Kausik Nath, ‎Vice President & Company Secretary at BCCL, earned Rs 70.50 lakh.

Pradeep Gnana Nerayanuri, former Vice President (Learning, OD & Talent Management, Corporate Human Resources) at BCCL, got Rs 73.35 lakh. He left in April 2016 and is an independent leadership coach.

M R Vasudevan, Deputy Director (technical) of Times Internet, got Rs 69.72 lakh.

Rajarshi Chakrabarti, Vice President (legal), earned Rs 68.96 lakh.

Sanjay Goyal, Vice President - Times Internet, got Rs 66.50 lakh.

Ashish Bhushan, former Assistant Vice President, got Rs 65.59 lakh. Bhushan, part of the team that established Times Red Cell, has now floated Chapter 3 --- an Experience Management Company that works with corporate organisations, brands, educational institutions, media companies and NGOs to design and execute intellectual properties and brand experiences.

Subramanian. S., Assistant Vice President, got Rs 64.78 lakh.

Sanjiv Kaura, CEO-Corp Social Responsibility, earned Rs 61.75 lakh. Coming to CSR, BCCL didnt spend much. While total amount to be spent for the financial year FY15 was Rs. 20.98 crore (2% of avg net profits for last 3 fiscals), it spent only Rs 5.5 crore!

Neeta Asnani, Assistant Vice President, got Rs 61.47 lakh.

Till, the next time.

Image attribution: Sourced from Internet platforms like Google Images, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Times Group boss Vineet Jain paid himself about Rs 50 cr as remuneration in FY14 and gave truckloads to others too

Charity begins at home, some say. Veritable media mogul Vineet Jain, 50, who holds the position of Managing Director in Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited (BCCL), literally laughed all his way to the bank in fiscal year ended March 2014 after he got an extremely fat, (no, almost obese), remuneration.

'Jain Zen'

26 years into country's largest mass media company, Vineet has made a name for himself for many things but most of all for "steering" BCCL into the money way. Running an ever-expanding business is no child's play and he has done that, I dare say, with elan! In 2014, he finally paid himself one of the biggest salaries in Corporate India history. He paid himself an eye-popping Rs 463,767,952 (Rs 46.37 crore) as remuneration in this year!

My wife, a journalist herself, says what's the big deal in this? "He practically owns the company along with his brother Samir. It publishes The Times of India, kumar. THE TOI, ET, NBT...," she reasons. Nevermind, I am still in awe.

This Rs 46.37 crore remuneration means every day that Mr Jain, who has a MBA in Marketing, spent in FY14 was billed at a staggering Rs 13 lakh for whatever he gave the firm. I can't even earn that amount in one full year. Every day, Rs 13 lakh. For 350 days. Fantastic!

Unlisted Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited (BCCL) as you know is primarily engaged in the business of publication of newspapers. It publishes the highest selling English broadsheet daily in the world, i.e., The Times of India. Apart from this, the company publishes newspapers like The Economic Times, Navbharat Times, Maharashtra Times, etc. It also houses television channels zoOm, Times Now and ET Now. BCCL has subsidiaries which are engaged in the areas of internet, e-commerce, radio, television, out of home, etc.

Let me explain the reason behind my long-lasting awe. From what I gather, BCCL made about Rs 5,700 crore in FY14 year with about 821 crore in net profits. Mr Vineet Jain, by that measure, all by himself got about 5.5 per cent of the company's bottomline. At the absolute level, this Rs 46.37 crore remuneration ranks with the best of the best of the best of the best ...

SAP old hand and now CEO of Infosys, Mr Vishal Sikka thought (and we all did) landed a great deal with Rs 30 crore pay packet with India's most loved IT company. Mr. Anil Manibhai Naik of Larsen and Toubro got about Rs 21 crore in a year. Sun Group promoter and chief executive Mr Kalanithi Maran got Rs 56 crore. Kumarmangalam Birla, who lords over the Birla empire, also got Rs 50 crore. So you see, Mr Vineet Jain is right up there. In that August company of rich men...

Comparisons of Jain's pay with others in the 'Media' industry are virtually pointless. A true Goliath among dwarf davids. India Today Group CEO Ashish Bagga got about Rs 4.4 crore as pay packet last year. BCCL CEO Ravi Dhariwal took home a whopping Rs 11 crore in FY'13 financial year (including performance pay), CEO Rajiv Verma of HT Media earned Rs 4.68 crore in 2012-13 while newly appointed CEO Of Kasturi & Sons CEO Rajiv Lochan is contracted to earn Rs 1.75 crore. Clearly, Mr. Jain is the big daddy when it comes to earning big bucks. He is the undisputed King of kings!

Jain had got Rs 14.90 crore in FY'13 and Rs 14.57 crore in FY'12. What exactly led to his remuneration rising manifold this year is not clear. However, a large part of his Rs 46.37 crore could be in form of 'commissions'. No idea what that was for. If any of you do, give me a shout.

There Are Others

Last year -- that is in FY13 -- the highest paid in the firm was Indu Jain, BCCL, Chairperson -- mother of Vineet and Samir. She was paid Rs 15.56 crore for the period 1st April 2012 to 31st March 2013. This appears to be marginally higher than Rs 15.45 crore paid to her in FY'12. In FY14, the 78-year old Sahu Jain family matriarch received about Rs 155,257,652 = Rs 15.52 crore.

For three years running (atleast), she appears to have adopted the mantra of India's wealthiest man Mukesh Ambani. Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani kept his annual salary capped at Rs. 15 crore for the sixth year in a row even as the remuneration of key executives went up. Mr. Ambani has kept salary, perquisites and allowances and commission at Rs. 15 crore since 2008-09, foregoing almost Rs. 24 crore per annum.

Coming back to Samir Jain , the eldest son of late Ashok Jain. The 60-year old, also the Vice Chairman and MD of BCCL, got good money as well in FY14. Clearly, the brothers struck a pot of gold in 2014, the year which will be remembered for having been the stage for Mr Narendra Modi storming to power at the Centre as PM on the back of the strongest mandate from the public in last 30 years. Many, not just me, feel big media played the role of a second fiddle too well in getting Mr Modi at 7 Race Course Road.

Samir took home Rs 375,142,883 or a staggering Rs 37.51 crore as remuneration. The chief architect of BCCL in 1980s, Samir -- famous for being the more spiritually inclined between the two brothers -- had got Rs 15.17 crore in FY'13 against Rs 14.82 crore in FY'12.

The youngest member of the Jain family Trishla Jain, an artist who held the post of executive director, had received Rs 3 crore in FY'13 compared to Rs 2.8 crore in FY'12. In FY'14, thirty something Trishla got about Rs 2.7 crore. About the same in the previous two years. Eleven years into BCCL, Samir's daughter is said to have played a key role in business development. Trishla resigned from company directorship from March 31, 2014.

Satyen Gajwani, Trishla's husband, got about Rs 51 lakh but this doesnt reflect a full-year's pay.

So, all in all, the Jains got over Rs 100 crore as remuneration from BCCL in the fiscal year that has gone by or about 12 per cent of bottomline. The 'family' was paid about Rs 50 crore in FY'13 or loosely 6.5 per cent of standalone profits. Clearly, the rich haul in 2014 is not just from remuneration. The directors recommended a dividend at the rate of 6 per cent (Rs 17.22 crore) on the paid-up share capital of Rs 286.96 crore. Assuming the promoters i.e. Jains hold 90 per cent of beneficial interest in BCCL, that makes it another Rs 15.5 crore in dividend income.

Growing Inequality

BCCL CEO Ravi Dhariwal has retired. Naturally, his pay this year at Rs 5.57 crore reflects that. For the record, he was paid Rs 11.34 crore in gross remuneration (FY'13) compared to Rs 3.4 crore in the fiscal ended FY'12. Dhariwal had a great stint at BCCL after being with the group for more than a decade. Bharti Retail's chief executive Raj Jain has now taken his place. Hope Jain finds solace in the company of more Jains!

Before delving deeper into this ever-widening salary chasm of non-editorial and editoral guys, lets look at some more numbers. Non-editorially speaking. 49-year old Shrijeet Mishra took home Rs 2.9 crore as COO. He has about 25 years of professional experience.

In FY13, Arunabh Das Sharma, Executive Director & President Response, got Rs 2.92 crore. In FY14, its Rs 3.6 crore for the former Whirlpool hand at BCCL. 22 years of experience including 4 in BCCL. Joy Chakraborty, Director-Response (Response is the prime mover among all other media marketing solution providers in India. It just not the advertising department!) received Rs 2.2 crore. Another Director - Response R Sundar took home Rs 2.64 crore in FY14 compared to Rs 1.84 crore in FY13. These are good hikes at good levels.

Lets look at non-editorial VP level salaries in BCCL. Indira Dinesh, Vice President - Response, got Rs 79.25 lakh in FY14 vs Rs 72.80 lakh in FY13. C G Varughase, Vice President - Response, got Rs 78.65 lakh vs Rs 70.39 lakh. Teena Singh, Vice President - Response, got Rs 73.97 lakh vs Rs 66.42 lakh. Jnan Prakash Dsouza, Vice President - Response, got Rs 72.45 lakh vs 62.01 lakh. VP people are guys with 20-30 years of solid experience.

At AVP levels, which is like above 15 years experience, BCCL executives get about Rs 60-89 lakh a year. For example, Diwakar Dadoo, AVP - Brand Capital, got about RS 64.4 lakh in FY14. Kuldeep G Mantry, AVP - MAS, took home Rs 63.19 lakh. At the higher end of the spectrum is 48-year old Rasesh Pushpabadhan Gandhi who got Rs 89 lakh as AVP Response.  

Among other key BCCL businesses, S Sivakumar, CEO - Brand Capital, received a lower Rs 1.66 crore vs Rs 2.01 crore. Also, Ashok Raparia, Director - Human Resources, got Rs 1.13 crore vs Rs 1.40 crore.

Coming to editorial staff now. Jaideep Bose, 51, (Editorial Director - TOI) got roughly Rs 1.9 crore in FY14 compared to Rs 2.45 crore in FY'13. Bose has spent 22 years in BCCL out of the full 28 in the profession with his last employment being with Ananda Bazar Patrika. Some could say top notch-editorial talent at BCCL didn't even earn Rs 2 crore when the largesse is quite clear from non-editorial salaries. Comparing to verticals like Response, Bose, aka Jojo, got 33 per cent less than Arunabh Das Sharma, Executive Director & President Response.

Next up is Rahul Joshi, Editorial Director - ET. His remuneration was Rs 1.39 crore vs Rs 1.34 crore. Joshi is Economic Times' Jojo in a loose sense of the word although Joshi would despise such comparisons. The salary chasm, as I had referred to earlier, now gets wider. Santosh Ramachandra Menon, Assistant Executive Editor, with 21 years of experience, including 6 in BCCL, earned Rs 69 lakh.

Bodhisatva Ganguly, Deputy Executive Editor, got about Rs 68 lakh. Shailendra Swaroop Bhatnagar (Chief Editor-Markets & Research), apparently responsible for Editorial Content during the Morning Band of ET NOW, earned Rs 92.8 lakh in FY14 vs Rs 86 lakh in FY13. Bhatnagar has 19 years of experience and going by his job description, he handles the time when financial markets are alive. Out of the 81 people BCCL has disclosed remuneration details, only 7 are journalists.

A word on salaries of the ordinary journalist. The Aam Journalist. Always getting the short end of the stick. Why? Because he gets the news, not the ad money.

The salaries of big editors in BCCL are actually huge compared to the little guys who actually make the papers happen day after day. Talk about misplaced priorities, barring a select few top journos, when it comes to salaries. Why peanuts to almost everybody when that aam journalist is actually doing the most work?

The theory of a space seller i.e. marketing guys being more valuable is deeply flawed. That space which gets you easily over a crore is the space where yesterday's headline just became archived material. Nobody remembers a paper or a channel by the ads they show, its the news, It always has been 'the news' and it ain't gonna change soon. The crowd puller or the show stopper is news and the news guys.

The Year 2014 That Just Went By

BCCL had a great year from the looks of it. Total income grew about 10 per cent to Rs 5,659 crore. A ten per cent growth kind of year after a marginal rise in FY13 vis a vis FY12 is actually a lot to cheer for. Out of FY14 revenues, sale of publications accounted for Rs 583.25 crores, television distribution revenue about Rs 21.6 crore and the cash-cow, advertisement revenue was about Rs 4,684 crore.

Key takeaways -- both sale of publications and advertisement revenue grew at about same pace of 8-odd per cent year on year. However, BCCL's focus on space utilisation indicates why its after all more of an advertising firm. There's no harm in it. Almost everybody in the market, is trying to copy that ad-first approach. 

This momentum showed up in profits as well. BCCL's bottomline grew to Rs 821 crore in FY'14 compared to Rs 740 crore in FY'13.  

In the print business, during the year under review, its flagship brand, Times of India achieved an overall growth in circulation. The Newspaper in Education (NIE) segment is said to have registered an impressive growth of over 8 per cent as compared to previous year. Economic Times maintained its market share for Business Dailies. The company took a major step forward in languages through launch of Navbharat Times in Lucknow. This launch is supposed to have opened up a significant

opportunity for NBT in the Hindi heartland. 

Maharashtra Times launched two new editions in Jalgaon and Ahmednagar, further consolidating its position in the Western markets with a total of 8 editions. The company recently launched Nav Gujarat Samay, a general interest daily in Gujarati language in the cities of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. This launch makes BCCL the only newspaper group to have major publications in 5 Indian languages - Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Bengali and Gujarati. 

In a challenging business environment for Media industry, newspaper advertising spends grew by only 5 per cent as per Group M report 2014, BCCL achieved a growth of 8 per cent. for the year 2013-14. This is because the company pursued a strategy of growth both in volume and yield. 

In the TV segment, BCCL got good 'response' as well. zoOm channel maintained its viewership share while the segment saw lot of competition. The channel continued to grow on the social media networks and became the first Indian TV brand to cross the 7 million mark on Facebook. In April 2013 zoOm launched a new digital channel on YouTube Telly Talk India which has grown to over 2.3 crore views by 31st March 2014. 

During the year under review, ET NOW continued to remain a good choice of viewers in the English Business News category and dominated the genre. On the content and programming front, the channel continued to add newer formats both during weekdays and weekends, even as it strengthened

its core proposition of market-moving stories and superior stock recommendations based on technical analysis. ET NOW also hosted its first-ever India Economic Conclave, which is a national thought leadership platform meant to spotlight and address key economic challenges facing the country. It was well received by all the stakeholders, including the government, industry and civil society.

During the year a new channel Romedy Now was launched on 22nd September 2013. Romedy NOW is a first of its kind Premium English Entertainment Channel ushering Love & Laughter together for the first time on Television. The channel caters to the Urban affluent audiences across all 8 metros and has established its leadership in a span of just 7 months from its launch.

Also, during the year under review, Times Music continued its leadership in Indian Classical, Devotional, Spiritual and Wellness genres with an impressive turnover. 

Comments/critique all welcome.

Images: Have been sourced from the Internet

Microscope: Looking at Living Media (India Today Group), Performance & Birla's rumored exit

Not many Chartered Accountants have taken a media company to the heights that Aroon Purie single-handedly has. The Lahore-born eminent journalist, who is almost synonymous with those trademark specs and his pink coloured tie, gave shape and firmness to his father Vidya Vilas (VV) Purie's tabloid newspaper called India Today launched in December 1975, the year which witnessed the then PM Indira Gandhi declaring the infamous Emergency. Today, Living Media -- the unlisted holding company of the India Today Group -- is the platform for the Indian media conglomerate which has interests in magazines, newspapers, books, radio, television, printing and the Internet. It has even attracted industrialist Aditya Birla as an investor, who is of late rumoured to be keen on an exit. We take a look at the good, bad and ugly of 'India Today'...

Staring at losses: Birla arrives

Living Media, by its own admission, competes with Bennett and Coleman Company Limited; HT Media Limited; Outlook Publishing (India) Private Limited; Images Multimedia Private Limited; Worldwide Media Limited; Television Eighteen India Limited; New Delhi Television Limited; Media Content & Communications Services (India) Private Limited; Anand Bazar Patrika Private Limited.

Its business segments comprise of the following: 1. Publications - Publishing of various magazines 2. Trading - Sale of merchandise, books, CDs, etc. 3. Distribution - Distribution of external publications 4. ITGOL (India Today Group Online)-Online advertisements and mobile value added services. 5.Others

As earlier said, its promoters are Editor-in-Chief Mr. Aroon Purie, Mrs. Rekha Purie (his wife), Mr. Ankoor Purie (his son), Aroon Purie & Sons (HUF), All India Investment Corporation Private Limited and World Media Private Limited (holds over 50 per cent stake in Living Media). Mr. Aroon Purie has been irrevocably appointed by each Promoter as its representative for certain identified purposes. Besides, individuals with significant influence include:- Ms. Koel Purie Rinchet (Daughter of Mr. Aroon Purie), Ms. Kalli Purie Bhandal (Daughter of Mr. Aroon Purie), Mrs. Madhu Trehan (Sister of Mr. Aroon Purie), Mrs. Mandira Purie Fawcett (Sister of Mr. Aroon Purie) & Mrs. Leela Purie (Mother of Mr. Aroon Purie).

In 2010 fiscal, Living Media reported standalone sales of Rs 348-odd crore. In 2011, this rose to about Rs 375 crore. More importantly, the company swinged to Rs 14.3 crore profit in 2011 from a loss of about Rs 12.2 crore in 2010. The profit in 2011 was more like a fleeting wind. In fiscal 2012, Living Media -- which has its registered office in the upmarket Connaught Circus area of New Delhi although it has shifted significant amount of operations to Noida -- sales came down a bit to Rs 369 crore but the bottomline turned red as it racked up losses (after tax) of Rs 18 crore. 

In 2013 fiscal, Living Media revenues fell further to Rs 341 crore and losses deepened to Rs 26-odd crore. Blame it on the global economy and/or the local economy, the advertising market has been subdued, to put it mildly, in the recent years. Mainly a printer and publisher of magazines, Living Media was under pressure as corporate marketing initiatives were trimmed and ad budgets further snipped. When you have 26 magazines, problems are in dozens. But Living Media is not just another company. It has more. Like in previous years, Living Media did what it could.

It's business in Retail under brand name 'Media Mart' was further consolidated to optimize future market by concentrating more on outlets at Airports, Shopping Malls besides outlets at Metro Stations. Possibility of having outlets in other formats like independent Kiosks, IT Parks, Office Complexes, Educational Institutions etc. were being looked at. This, Living Media management, figured should result in higher volume and consequently increase in top-lines for retail business.

Some more housekeeping was also done. During 2013 fiscal, the company's joint venture agreement dated 1 st December, 2003 with HarperCollins Publishers Limited, UK was discontinued.

To make itself a pure-play media firm, Living Media transferred its Non-Media Undertaking with all assets and liabilities to Thomson Press (India) Limited.

Soon enough, Living Media along-with promoter shareholders entered into Shareholders Agreement (SA), Share Subscription and Purchase Agreement (SSPA), with IGH Holdings Private Limited -- an Aditya Birla Group Company. Pursuant to these agreements, the holding company of Living Media -- World Media Private Limited (controlled by Arun Poorie etal) sold 14,129 equity shares to IGH Holdings Private Limited & Living Media issued 53,798 fresh shares to IGH Holdings Private Limited.

So, the loss-making company got Rs 480 crore at one-shot as it was valued at Rs 1,750 crore by virtue of the price paid by Aditya Birla group firm for getting 27.5 per cent stake. Later, the industrial conglomerate pumped in atleast Rs 70 crore in exchange for more equity (9,784 shares)-- making the total investment upwards of Rs 550 crore.

One may have think why so much of money for Living Media but possibly the answer lies in TV Today Network (worth Rs 320 crore in May 2012) which is listed on bourses. Living Media controls over half (57% odd) of it. Birla-whose aunt happens to be HT Media owner Shobhana Bhartia-was convinced that Living Media is a good play on the "sunrise sector". An IPO dream was floated: the investor told about a public offering within November 2018. In case it didn't happen by then, IGH could hike its stake upto 49 per cent.

Here, I would like to add that the traditional media reports on Aditya Birla group's investment in Living Media seem a bit off the mark. See here and here. They, however, were bang on when it came to reporting the development of Birla asking merchant bankers to explore an exit from Living Media in about 2 years!

How It Lives Media

TV Today Network has channels like Aaj Tak and Headlines Today. In 2012-13, it reported income of Rs 320 crore and profit of Rs 12.2 crore---margin of less than 4 per cent.

Another key subsidiary of Living Media is 64.85% owned Mail Today Newspapers Pvt Ltd. Its a key arm not because it publishes Mail Today newspaper, established in November 2007 in a joint venture with British newspaper Daily Mail. MT's penchant for young talent and young readers --- more often by default than design --- is unique. The management expects the paper to go through a gestation period of 7-8 years, for a country like India. MT is part of a key business plan that was pitched to Birla. Why? Most probably because of its losses and the drag it caused on the group financials/earnings. In 2012-13, it logged sales of Rs 39 crore but losses were at a whopping Rs 29 crore.

Like Mail Today Newspapers Pvt Ltd, Living Media has another key subsidiary e-commerce unit BagitToday.com. As per information, this business racked up over Rs 16 crore in losses in fiscal 2013.

Running the overall business has never been a problem for Mr. Purie. Notwithstanding the large real estate assets which can be mortgaged to take sweetheart loans, the company has always been able to put it's hands on the required working capital. Salaries have been paid on time. Creditors rarely complain. Events held by the group have seen the who's who of the world arrive.

Now comes the secret business plan. The Initial Business Plan for the Financial Years ending 31 March 2013, 31 March 2014 and 31 March 2015 is a rolling three (3) year Business Plan and had been adopted by the shareholders. Complete with projections, the plan was set in motion to be prepared for an IPO.

Living Media's losses in Mail Today and BagitToday.com businesses (including its holding in India Today Retail and India Today Merchandise) alone were Rs 45 crore. Hence, the company promised to take all reasonable measures for increasing the business prospects and profitability of Bagittoday.com Target Business and the Mail Today Target Business.

In the event that either Bagittoday.com Target Business and/or the Mail Today Target Business do not perform in accordance with the projections provided in the Business Plan and the actual average audited EBITDA for the Financial Years 2013, 2014 and 2015 of such Identified Business is lower by seventy per cent. (70%) of the average target EBITDA of such Identified Business for the Financial Years 2013, 2014 and 2015 as set out in the Initial Business Plan, Birla was entitled to trigger an event of strategic sale of either or both of the Identified Businesses at its sole and absolute discretion at any point of time subsequent to 15 September 2015 by issuing a notice to Mr. Purie. So, if at all such event happened -- this was to be after Sep 2015.

So, why does he want to leave so soon? Between May 2012 and now, some things have happened. 1) Modi government stormed to power at the Centre. 2) Shekhar Gupta joined as the vice-chairman of the India Today Group. He resigned from his post as Editor-in-Chief of the Indian Express and moved out officially in June, 2014 after being in the position for 19 years. 3) In an attempt to ensure plurality of news and views, broadcast regulator Trai very recently suggested restriction on political bodies and corporates entering the television and newspaper business.

Update: According to reports, Gupta has quit his position. Will stay on board as editorial adviser. See here.

From an investment perspective, Living Media is as well-placed as anybody. For Aditya Birla, pumping more funds clearly ain't an issue. IGH is empowered to invest upwards of Rs 12,500 crore.

Hasty resignations & salaries

For the year ended 31st March, 2013 Mr Aroon Purie got gross pay of Rs 1.63 crore. Director Anil Mehra got Rs 1.43 crore. Ashish Bagga, Group Chief Executive Officer, got an eye-popping Rs 4.41 crore. Dinesh Bhatia, Group Chief Financial Officer, got Rs 1.42 crore. Oxford educated Kalli Purie Bhandal, designated as Group Chief Synergy Officer, got Rs 1.08 crore. Mala Sekhri, COO Lifestyle Group & Music Today, took Rs 90.13 lakh.

Interestingly, both Bagga and Bhatia apparently had resigned as directors on March 31, 2014 due to what they call "personal reasons" or euphemism for DONT ASK :) Soon after Bhatia got reappointed at an annual package of Rs 1.76 crore plus PF, gratuity, medical insurance etc. However, Bagga--famous for his red trousers-- got reappointed at an annual package of Rs 4.1 crore plus PF, gratuity, medical insurance etc. Did he strike a good deal?

Comparisons of Bagga's pay packet with CEOs of rival media companies are natural. On that count, he seems to be at par. While big daddy BCCL CEO Ravi Dhariwal took home a whopping Rs 11 crore in the last reported financial year (including performance pay), CEO Rajiv Verma of HT Media earned Rs 4.68 crore in 2012-13 while newly appointed CEO Of Kasturi & Sons CEO Rajiv Lochan is contracted to earn Rs 1.75 crore.

As always, feel free to drop your comments/criticism/praise in the "Comment" section below. Till the next time.

Images: Sourced from the Internet. If anybody has any objection to use, please notify and it/they will be removed within 24 hours.

'Diggy-gate' and the failure of media

By Kumar Shankar Roy

There's an old saying: Raise no more devils than you can lay down. Indian media has raised one too many.

67-year old Congress leader Digvijaya Singh's candid pictures with TV anchor Amrita Rai have given the 'news-hungry' sections of some media persons a sitting duck, as they say. It could never have been so easier. Rabid readers and the oh-so sacrosanct 'reader interest' has trumped decency and common sense once again. If it sells, it must be news. Its a sorry state of affairs that am afraid we have created.

Lies, Deceit, Propaganda...then comes sex. Lok Sabha elections, which saw the seventh phase completing today, has now come the full circle. 'Diggy-gate' was the proverbial cherry on the top for media wanting to break news (never mind if some hearts are also broken). The elections started on a sombre note with development being the plank but now, just like always, has been reduced to a circus -- thanks to media.

People who support this type of journalism where the privacy of individuals, one being in full glare of public life and the other who brings others into public life, stands violated by all counts, have given me many what-they-say are "solid" reasons. My advice to them -- Get a life!

Digvijaya Singh, who has earlier been ridiculed for gaffes and no stranger to controversies, hasn't done any crime this time round to my mind. As he admitted on Twitter, he possibly loves this woman and wants to have a stable relationship. The only possible discomfort could be his that the 'news' of his relationship comes within months after his wife, suffering from cancer, passed away. But still, its his life and he has the right to live it in a way that is not deemed illegal.

The lady in question, along with her husband, has apparently filed for a mutual consent divorce.

The problem is righteous people and those priding themselves on high moral grounds think they are superior. They will tell you how this relationship is possibly illegal as the lady is not divorced.

I want all of you who are reading this blog to step back from all these things. Let me tell you why I feel this entire episode reeks of failure of our media to dissect news from cheap sensationalism -- yellow journalism as they call it.

As journalists, We are taught and eventually trained to separate the wheat from the chaff. Its what we aspire to do everyday. In this case, however, that has not happened.

I will not go into the details of the publication which gave great prominence to this purported pictures that were floating around social media apparently on Tuesday. The publication, which is trying to become a mainline and aspires to champion real causes, is unimportant.

1. The 'scoop': When a paper, which wants to be taken seriously, publishes private photos of a politician, its the lowest level a paper can stoop to. What if next some people publish private pictures of the editor or circulate audio tapes of private conversations he/she had with someone they are attracted or in a relationship to?

The time has come to define news in the 21st century.

The old and stupid way of saying "when a dog bites a man that's not news and when a man bites a dog that's news" is outdated as a dinosaur. Media has to respect people and the lives they lead. When social media is abuzz with private pictures of any person, be it a politician, film-star or even a porn star, it is a "right" to exercise control/ignore moronic urge to publish them.

The media enjoys this right because those who have bestowed them to the media feel we are worth of it. If not exercised properly, the day may not be far that the "right" could be under scanner and eventually taken away.

2. The follow-up: If a paper has violated the privacy of an individual, its competitors cannot simply claim to be "just doing follow-ups" and print everything a day later with greater dose of 'masala'. A specific instance of failure then becomes collective failure.

When an editor is hauled up by police authorities and faces the risk of being jailed by corporate interests, the flag-bearers of journalism issue statements. However, they are conspicuous by their silence on matters such as this. Not even a word. Its as if that when politicians are targets of low-level journalism (read sensationalism), "we" are okay with it.

A video, sets of private pictures or libelous allegations -- if the target is a politician, especially someone who has a history of being lambasted by all and the sundry -- we are okay. This simply cannot go on. There has to be a stop and the time is now.

3. Phantom reader: Lastly, journalists cannot claim to dish out crap and invade people's lives by simply saying its "reader interest". As a newspaper reader or a TV viewer, have you ever come across a reader/viewer survey asking you/us about what we really want to see? My guess is as good as yours. Never.

Powerful journalists (read racketeers) choose what "they" want to carry and their ultimate defense is "reader interest". The social media is full of sane readers/viewers who have taken and will continue to take strong objection to vile methods practiced by some media outlets. Those real views, however, never get due coverage. Only those, preferably jokes and 'smart' one-liners, are cramped together and again "sold" as news.

All this begets a simple question, the answer for which is probably known. Traditional media has failed itself. In its urge to revitalize itself with new-found zealousness/reader interest, it is publishing crap, shit and poop day after day.

The reader is not your wife. Respect and you will get respect.

All readers of this post are free to criticize my views, as always. I will publish them all. Do drop a line and share this post on your networks if there is even an iota of something you like. Conversely, share even if you don't like so that I get a barrage of notifications to correct myself :)

Adios. Till the next time.

Image courtesy: 1. http://images.sodahead.com/polls/002787187/1923255931_privacy_xlarge.jpeg
                         2. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg1FHwfVuTzj3t9sHTXKRelWlJlmHA9620JJ7NSlSyS5DWbQbp8hEiNCFXvtdTYi_CJod20shvPBg01Wa4lWLTAcSBNQIQbulJWtXu3pLl5j2AeTIQnXChyphenhyphenX9wMAKWH-M-X4pp7a_9G60F/s1600/a+media+fail.png
                         3. https://www.mediabistro.com/agencyspy/files/original/PressHat3_2.jpg
                         4. http://cbpr.me/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Pitching-to-Journalists.jpg
                         5. http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/social-media.jpg
                         6. http://media.king5.com/images/CRIME_DIME_Logo470.jpg