Star & Disney calls off Uday Shankar's farewell party due to Covid-19
The party was expected to be held at a five-star hotel in Mumbai on December 19 with senior-level executives in attendance
Star & Disney India's farewell party for outgoing Chairman and CEO Uday Shankar has been cancelled due to Covid-19. The farewell was expected to be held at a five-star hotel in Mumbai on December 19 with senior-level executives in attendance.
In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the farewell was supposed to be conducted in a bio-secure bubble in order to minimise the risk of infection. The IPL 2020 edition was also held under a strict bio-bubble environment.
On Thursday, The Walt Disney Company Chairman, International Operations and Direct-to-Consumer Rebecca Campbell had announced, in an internal communication, that Star and Disney India will have a new head to replace Uday Shankar in early 2021. In the interim, Star and Disney India Country Manager K Madhavan and Disney+ Hotstar India Head Sunil Ryan will report to her.
Disney also appointed Luke Kang as the new President of The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific. Reporting to Campbell, Kang will oversee the company’s business in Australia/New Zealand, Greater China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia.
Shankar had quit as Star and Disney India chairman & CEO and The Walt Disney Company APAC president in October. His last day at Disney will be December 31. He took over the leadership of Star India in 2007 and since then has transformed Star into one of the largest and most successful media companies in Asia.
Speaking with analysts during the Q4 earnings conference call, Disney CEO Bob Chapek had said that Shankar had indicated that he will leave the company to pursue other opportunities.
"In terms of India, obviously, we have an executive there, Uday Shankar, who we love, and we wish him well. He gave us some indication several months ago that he was thinking of moving on. We've got a really deep bench there. And we feel that we have all kinds of opportunities and a lot of success so far with Disney+. And we have no reason to believe that that success won't continue and even accelerate going forward," Chapek had said.
