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

How Did The Times Group Perform and Pay in FY13

While we read about salaries, corporate performance and company outlooks in the various outlets of the over 175 year old Times Group, let us find out how unlisted BCCL itself paid and did in financial year ended March 2013!

If you are a reader of newspapers or a voracious listener of news on the TV, you must have heard of The Times of India, The Economic Times, Times Now etc. They are the biggest and arguably the best in the country.

Unlisted Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited (BCCL) 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.

Bennett Coleman And Company Limited (BCCL) has its registered office at Times Of India Bldg, D N Road, Mumbai, Maharashtra. Unlisted companies usually file their annual filings with a delay of 3-12 months.

Profits:

For the year ended March 31, 2013, BCCL reported a net profit of Rs 739.62 crore. This is over 37 per cent higher than Rs 537.32 crore in the year ended 31st March, 2012.

Sales:

For the year ended March 2013, BCCL logged a total revenue of Rs 5,057.52 crore. This is marginally higher than the Rs 4,946.93 crore reported a year ago.

The FY'13 revenue of Rs 5,057.52 crore includes :- 1) Sale of Publications :- Rs 536.78 crores 2) Television Distribution Revenue:- Rs. 9.51 crores 3) Advertisement Revenue :- Rs. 4,190.72 crore.

For every 100 rupees earned in 2012-13, BCCL earned 82 rupees from advertising in FY'13. Also, importantly advertising revenue's share on overall pie came down from 84 rupees (of every 100) in fiscal year 2011-12. About 10 rupees came from sale of publications. This is why possibly many argue that BCCL looks more like an advertising firm.  

The year gone by:

During 2012-13, the company's flagship brand, The Times of India achieved  overall good circulation growth. Four new editions were launched -- Aurangabad, Raipur, Kolhapur and Vizag, thereby extending its reach into new markets.

Circulation of The Economic Times was down compared to last year. Maharashtra Times launched two new editions in Nagpur and Kolhapur.

Navbharat Times remained same as in the previous year.

The company launched an entirely new mast-head in the form of a Bengali paper 'Ei Samay' (Bengali for These Times) in October 2012.

Performance of BCCL subsidiaries:

The company has listed about 50 firms as subsidiaries.

Zoom Entertainment Network Ltd runs the the first TV channel of the group -- zoOm TV (Editor: Omar Qureshi). It posted revenues of Rs 108.64 crore in FY13. It appears to have posted a loss.

Led by CEO Satyan Gajwani Times Internet Ltd operates a portfolio of web and mobile properties that claims to engage millions of users globally. Gajwani happens to be the son-in-law of Samir Jain -- Vice-Chairman & MD of BCCL. Mobile and web are among the company's priorities.

The arm posted a total revenue of Rs 417.91 crore in FY13 and a profit after tax of Rs 116.05 crore -- about 28 per cent net profit margin.

Times Global Broadcasting Company Ltd. It runs TV channels Times Now and ET Now. Posting revenues of Rs 213.9 crore in FY'13, it posted a profit of just Rs 10.73 crore -- barely 5 per cent profit margin.

Also led by Satyen (as per BCCL website), Times Business Solutions runs TimesJobs.com, MagicBricksMagicBricks.com, SimplyMarrySimplyMarry.com and Ads2BookAds2Book.com, among others. It earned revenues of Rs 320.76 crore and a good Rs 59.3 crore net profit -- translating to 18 per cent profit margin.

Another interesting BCCL arm is Brand Equity Treaties Ltd. It is called Brand Capital these days. Basically, its the latest avataar of 'Times Private Treaties' which germinated with the idea of offering advertising for assets. This subsidiary reported revenues of Rs 160.59 crore but its profit after tax was in the negative (Rs 34.97 crore loss).

Salaries:

Now, comes the most important part. BCCL has disclosed pay packet (gross remuneration subject to tax and comprises salary, perquisite, incentives and commission, provident fund, super annuation fund etc) of as many 69 people. Any extra amount paid has not been captured in the figures below.

The highest paid appears Indu Jain, BCCL, Chairperson. 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.

BCCL VC and MD Samir Jain was paid Rs 15.17 crore in FY'13 against Rs 14.82 crore during 01/04/2011 to 31/03/2012. Next in the pecking order is his brother Vineet Jain who got Rs 14.90 crore in FY'13 compared to Rs 14.57 crore in FY'12.

The youngest member of the Jain family Trishla Jain, an artist, received Rs 3 crore in FY'13 compared to Rs 2.8 crore in FY'12.

Salary details of Satyen, Trishla's husband, could not be accessed.

So, all in all, the 'family' in BCCL was paid about Rs 48 crore in FY13 as remuneration. This would be about 6.5 per cent of annual profits.

BCCL Executive Director and CEO Ravindra Dhariwal was paid Rs 11.34 crore in gross remuneration (FY'13) compared to Rs 3.4 crore in the fiscal ended FY'12. This easily translates to a whopping an over 3-fold pay jump. Some say this jump could be because Dhariwal was paid bonus etc in FY13 that was missing in FY12 when the company's total profit had slumped about 42 per cent year-on-year.

Next, we will look into salaries of other key staff. Readers are requested to excuse my inability to get previous year compensation details.

On the editorial side, gross remuneration of Arindam Sengupta (Executive Editor - TOI), Jaideep Bose (Editorial Director - TOI), Rahul Joshi (Editorial Director - ET), Santosh Ramachandra Menon (Associate Editor), Nikunj Dalmia (Senior Editor), R. Sridharan (Executive Editor) and Shailendra Swaroop Bhatnagar (Chief Editor-Markets & Research) are mentioned.

Sengupta, who is known to have played the role of a deputy to Jojo aka Jaideep Bose with elan, was paid the princely sum of  Rs 10,833,280.94 (Rs 1.08 crore)  in FY'13. On the other hand, Jojo was paid Rs 2.45 crore.

ET's Joshi got Rs 1.34 crore, Menon received Rs 62.07 lakh, Dalmia (Senior Stocks Editor at ET Now) Rs 97.42 lakh, Sridharan (Executive Editor News & Trends, ET Now) Rs 90.08 lakh and Bhatnagar (responsible for Editorial Content during the Morning Band of ET NOW) Rs 85.90 lakh.

Salary details of Arnab Goswami -- Editor-in-Chief and News anchor of the Indian news channel Times Now -- could not be accessed. So, enlightened readers are requested to share the data :)

Read more on previous years' employee costs here and finances here.

'Response':

Let us look at FY13 salaries of key Times Response staff. 'Response', as many of you would be knowing, is the prime mover among all other media marketing solution providers in India. It just not the advertising department!

Arunabh Das Sharma, Executive Director & President Response, got Rs 2.92 crore. Nandan Srinath, Director - Response, got Rs 2.02 crore.  R Sundar, Director - Response, got Rs  1.84 crore. C R Srinivasan, Director - Response, got Rs 1.29 crore. Ranjeet Kate, Director - Response, got Rs 1.17 crore.

Indira Diesh, Vice President - Response, got Rs 72.80 lakh. C G Varughase, Vice President - Response, got Rs 70.39 lakh. Teena Singh, Vice President - Response, got Rs 66.42 lakh. Jnan Prakash Dsouza, Vice President - Response, got Rs 62.01 lakh.

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

Finances:

This section has been deliberately kept for the last. For those interested in how BCCL manages its finances, I am giving you a simple snapshot. BCCL's assets stood at Rs 8750.81 crore at the end of FY'13 compared to Rs 7758.72 crore in FY'12 end.

The Rs 8750.81 crore assets comprise Rs 2,393.67 crore total current assets and Rs 6,357.14 total non-current assets.

Non-current investments: Let us also look at the list of companies where BCCL, publisher of ToI and ET among others, holds shares. Some of these investments would clearly be via  private treaties.

At the end of March 31, 2013, the list of companies where BCCL held equity stakes was Aksh Optifibre Ltd., Allied Digital Services Ltd., Aqua Logistics Ltd., Austral Coke & Projects Ltd., Avesthagen, Bang Overseas Ltd., Bhagyanagar India Ltd., Birla Cotsyn India Ltd., Birla Pacific Medspa Ltd., Birla Power Solutions Ltd., Bloom Dekor Ltd., Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd., Celebrity Fashions Ltd., Coffee day Resorts Pvt. Ltd., Eco Recycling Ltd., Eveready Industries India Ltd., Flawless Diamond (India) Ltd., Fortis Healthcare Ltd., Future Markets Networks Ltd.(Agre Developers Ltd.), Future Venture India Ltd, Gitanjali Gems Ltd., GMR Infrastructure Ltd., GSS America Infotech Ltd., GTL Infrastructure Ltd., Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd., Himalaya International Ltd., Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., Indian Terrain Fashions Ltd., IOL Netcom Ltd., IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd., Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd., Jagran Prakashan Ltd., Jaypee Infratech Ltd., JVL Agro Industries Ltd., Karuturi Global Ltd., Kingfisher Airlines Ltd., KSL & Industries Ltd., Lok Housing & Constructions Ltd., Marg Ltd., Micro Technologies (India) Ltd., (India) Ltd., Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd., MVL Industries Ltd., MVL Ltd., Net 4 India Ltd., Next Mediaworks Ltd.(Midday Multimedia Ltd.), NIIT Ltd., NIIT Technologies Ltd., OK Play India Ltd, Pantaloon Retail (India), Provogue (India) Ltd, Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd., Raj Oil Mills Ltd., Ritesh Properties & Industries Ltd., Sahara One Media & Entertainment Ltd., Sobha Developers Ltd., SQL Star International Ltd., SRS Ltd., Sujana Universal Industries Ltd., Teledata Informatics Ltd., Teledata Marine Solutions Ltd., Teledata Technologies Solutions Ltd., The Sandesh Ltd., Thomas Scott Ltd., Timbor Home Ltd., Today's Writing Products Ltd., Videocon Industries Ltd, Zicom Electronic Security Systems Ltd., Press Trust of India Ltd. and United News of India Ltd, among numerous others.

Shareholding:

Shareholders who hold more than 5 per cent equity of BCCL are Bharat Nidhi Limited (18.02 per cent), Ashoka Viniyoga Limited (5.96%), Camac Commercial Co. Limited (9.75%), Sanmati Properties Limited (24.41%), Arth Udyog Limited (9.31%), PNB Finance & Industries Limited (13.3%), Jacaranda Corporate Services Limited (9.29%) and TM Investments Limited (8.93%). These entities hold 98.97 per cent of BCCL.

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

Would try to write a post on FY14 BCCL performance soon.

Disclaimer: I worked for The Times of India at Chennai for a year in 2008-09 when the global financial crisis, triggered by Lehman Brothers, hit Indian shores hard.

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

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.