JioStar’s Chief Revenue Officer Ajit Varghese Quits

SUMMARY

The media giant’s head of revenue and large customer base business, Mahesh Shetty, will take over as JioStar’s new CRO

Varghese is now slated to join as the group CEO of media agency Madison Media and its outdoor advertising vertical OOH.

Varghese’s resignation comes seven months after the completion of Reliance-Disney merger in November 2024, and the subsequent formation of JioStar

Reliance-backed media giant JioStar’s chief revenue officer (CRO) Ajit Varghese has stepped down from his role. He is now slated to join as the group CEO of media agency Madison Media and its outdoor advertising vertical OOH.

As per an internal memo circulated within JioStar, the media giant’s head of revenue and large customer base business, Mahesh Shetty, will take over as the new CRO.

Notably, this will be Varghese’s second stint at Madison. He previously served as the media company’s COO between 1999 to 2006.

Inc42 has reached out to JioStar for a comment on the development. The story will be updated on receiving a response.

Exchange4media was the first to report the development.

Varghese’s resignation comes seven months after the completion of Reliance-Disney merger in November 2024, and the subsequent formation of the consolidated entity, JioStar. Prior to this, he was the executive vice-president (EVP) and head of network of ad sales at The Walt Disney Company.

An alumni of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, Varghese has more than 20 years of experience in the media and entertainment sector under his belt. He has also worked with companies like ShareChat and WPP.

On the other hand, JioStar’s new CRO Shetty has more than 20 years of experience in media sales. He joined JioStar in November 2024 as the head of network sales and reported to Varghese then.

JioStar was formed after the merger of India media businesses of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Viacom 18 and Walt Disney, and was pegged at a post-money valuation of $8.5 Bn. While Viacom18 controls 46.82% stake in the consolidated entity, Disney and RIL hold 36.84% and 16.34% stakes, respectively.

The aftermath of the merger saw JioStar conducting a company-wide restructuring exercise, which resulted in 1,000 employees losing their jobs.

Meanwhile, JioStar continues to see healthy growth on the operational front. JioHotstar, the company’s streaming platform, touched the 100 Mn subscribers mark in March. This came largely on the back of growing IPL viewership and an expansive content library.

Kevin Vaz, CEO of entertainment at JioStar, during the company’s earnings call for Q1 FY26, said that the cricket tournament was “one of the biggest highs” for the streaming business in the quarter. It recorded a digital viewership of 1.4 Bn.