Disney+ Hotstar’s Sidharth Shakdher Jumps Ship To Ola Mobility

Disney+ Hotstar executive vice-president (EVP) and chief marketing officer (CMO) Sidharth Shakdher has jumped ship to Ola Mobility. 

Shakdher has joined Ola parent, ANI Technologies, as the new global chief business officer (CBO). As per an ET report, he will oversee functions such as revenue, growth, marketing, and new initiatives for Ola’s mobility division.

Shakdher will also be responsible for the company’s new businesses such as ecommerce, as per the report.

An alumni of Pune University, he has 25 years of experience under his belt, spanning companies such as Samsung, Canon, HP, Xerox, among others. 

Before Ola, Shakdher was part of the founding leadership team at Disney+ Hotstar. In his seven-year-long stint, he led the streaming platform’s marketing, international growth, and D2C business. 

Prior to this, he was the head of marketing and growth at Amazon and managed the ecommerce platform’s third-party marketplace in the US.

Shakdher’s supposed move to Ola comes amid the ongoing upheaval at Disney+ Hotstar. The streaming platform has been shedding subscribers in droves millions of the onslaught from competitor JioCinema. 

On account of losing the digital media rights of IPL and the premium content library of HBO and NBCUniversal, Disney+ Hotstar lost 20 Mn subscribers in a span of months last year. 

Such has been the situation that late last year, reports surfaced that Reliance Industries had signed a non-binding term sheet with Walt Disney Co. for the merger of their media and entertainment operations in India. 

Earlier this year, it was reported that the two companies had appointed law firms and initiated antitrust due diligence for their proposed merger. However, things went south just days ago as Sony pulled the plug on a $10 Bn merger with Zee. 

Subsequently, Zee Entertainment Enterprises pulled out of a $1.4 Bn TV sub-licensing deal with Disney Star for ICC tournaments for the 2024-27 period. This is expected to have a direct bearing on Disney Star’s merger with Reliance. 

Earlier last week, reports emerged that the fallout from Zee’s deal had triggered concerns about Reliance’s downgrade of Disney Star, potentially amounting to a valuation hit of $2 Bn. 

As the saga pans out, it remains to be seen whether Shakdher’s departure triggers any more exits at the streaming giant or things get back on track for Disney+ Hotstar.