Nazara COO Sudhir Kamath To Step Down

Online gaming giant Nazara has said that its chief operating officer (COO) Sudhir Kamath will step down from the company. 

In a filing with the exchanges, Nazara said that Kamath’s resignation will come into effect on April 1, 2025. 

In his resignation letter, the outgoing COO attributed his departure to his plans to “relocate to his native city (Delhi) to be with his family”. 

“We hereby inform you that Mr. Sudhir Kamath, Chief Operating Officer, designated as senior management personnel (SMP) of the Company, has tendered his resignation in order to relocate to his native city to be with his family. The Company has accepted his resignation and he will be relieved from his responsibilities with effect from April 01, 2025,” said the company. 

However, the company is yet to announce a replacement for Kamath. 

Meanwhile, Kamath’s resignation letter read, “As discussed, I would like to resign from my role as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Nazara Technologies, so that I can move back to Delhi and spend more time with my family there… I will ensure an orderly transfer of responsibilities to colleagues”.

An alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, Kamath was appointed as Nazara’s COO in 2022. Prior to that, he cofounded online poker platform 9stacks and led it as CEO for more than five years. 

Meanwhile, on the same day, the company also informed the bourses that its subsidiary Openplay Technologies Private Ltd has entered into a loan agreement with Moonshine Technology Private Ltd, an associate company of Nazara and parent of online poker platform PokerBaazi. 

Under the deal, Openplay will extend a loan of up to INR 20 Cr, in one or more tranches, to Moonshine for business purposes such as working capital requirements, expansion plans, among others. The transaction will be subject to compliance with the applicable laws, said Nazara in a filing with the exchanges. 

“The agreement inter-alia provides (the) lender an option to convert the outstanding loan amount into Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS) of Moonshine, in the event of default, in such number and on such terms and conditions as specified in the agreement,” said Nazara. 

This comes just days after Nazara received its board’s approval to sell 94.85% stake in OpenPlay to Moonshine Technology for INR 104.33 Cr.

On the financial front, Nazara Technologies reported a consolidated net profit of INR 13.7 Cr in the third quarter of the financial year 2024-25 (FY25), down 53.5% from INR 29.5 Cr in the year-ago quarter. Meanwhile, revenue from operations soared 66.8% to a record INR 534.7 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 320.4 Cr in Q3 FY24.