Before KBC, top honchos leaving Star?

The Star group, Rupert Murdoch’s Asian operation, announced a top-level management change on Friday, but observers say that this is just the beginning.

Star CEO Michelle Guthrie has resigned after six years in the company.

The low-profile Guthrie, who hardly ever gave interviews to the media, will be replaced by Star president Paul Aiello, who joined the company last April. On Friday, Guthrie was unreachable on her mobile phone despite several attempts by DNA Money to contact her, but an internal email sent to Star employees explains why she is leaving.

Coinciding with Guthrie’s resignation, the buzz in the industry is that Star India Entertainment CEO Sameer Nair has also quit the organisation.

It is believed that Nair has put in his papers at Star, and is likely to head NDTV’s proposed entertainment venture.

Film-maker Karan Johar has already picked up a stake in NDTV Entertainment.

Neither Star nor NDTV officials confirmed the development.

Ahead of the launch of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC-3) with Shah Rukh Khan replacing Amitabh Bachchan as host, Sameer Nair’s rumoured exit from Star is being viewed as “unfortunate” for the company.

Aiello, who will formally take charge as the CEO on March 1, is expected to be in Mumbai on Monday to do “damage control”, an industry source said.

KBC, which has always been a revenue-churner for the broadcaster, is starting on January 22 in its new avatar.

It’s not Sameer Nair alone who may leave. For several months now, the buzz has been that Star India CEO Peter Mukherjea may also quit.

Even now, that buzz has not died down. Sources said that News Corp headquarters in New York is in discussions with Mukherjea, trying to persuade him to stay back but he is believed to be working on his own business.

Throughout Friday, the Star India headquarters in Mumbai witnessed high-level meetings, and there was much speculation outside about further announcements.

While Guthrie has been quoted in a press statement as saying that she was leaving Star to take a break, an industry source argued that she may have been under stress as the company had stopped performing like earlier.

“This could be the result of a review exercise” for the company, whose annual revenue is over Rs 2,000 crore. Star India’s TV channels, which contribute around two-thirds of the revenues of the Asia operations of the company, saw falling audience ratings (TRPs) in the past several months. Rival channels like Zee and Sony have strengthened their position in the recent past in terms of programme TRPs.

A media analyst, who did not want to be quoted, said, “The Star network has hit a plateau now. It will be a challenge for it to revive the magic of 2001.” On whether these developments would impact KBC-3, a source said, “no, they have gone too far on that already”.

Meanwhile, some of the names doing the rounds who could assume significant positions in the India operations of Star include Sanjay Das (a 10-year veteran at Star Hong Kong); Steve Askew (COO, Star group); and John Askera (another company insider).

An internal email sent to Star employees by Guthrie says: “I’m sorry to let you know that I have decided to resign as CEO of Star.

Obviously, this is a very difficult decision for me as I’ve been with the company for almost seven years and have a great attachment to it and particularly to all of you. Nevertheless, I have decided it is time for me to take a break.”

In the e-mail, Guthrie says: “In the next two months, I will work very closely with Paul (Aiello) to ensure the smoothest possible transition.”

Guthrie joined Star in June, 2000. Prior to that, she was director of legal and business at Foxtel, Australia’s leading subscription television provider, which is 25% owned by News Corp. Via