Kevin Vaz quits Disney Star, to join Viacom18 as its new CEO

Kevin Vaz, the virtual second-in-command in the Disney Star ecosystem, has resigned from the company after a tenure of more than 20 years, reported the Economic Times.
The TV broadcast executive will become Viacom18’s next CEO, said the report citing sources. Also, significant organisational changes at Viacom18 are anticipated to occur in the next months.

Currently, Jyoti Deshpande is the CEO of Viacom18, and the CEO of the sports business is Anil Jayaraj. Deshpande also oversees Jio Studios and is president of Reliance Industries’ media division.

Vaz received a promotion to his present position in 2021 as a result of a corporate restructuring. Vaz has worked with Disney for more than 20 years and has held a number of roles, including CEO of the regional entertainment business and head of ad sales.
The development has come after Viacom18 finished the process of allocating shares to Bodhi Tree Systems and the Reliance Industries group after a record-breaking infusion of Rs 15,000 crore into the business.

Vaz joins the long list of executives who have worked with Star; some of them have now joined Viacom18. Anil Jayaraj, the head of advertising sales at Star Sports, became the CEO of Viacom18’s sports division in 2021. The head of Disney+ Hotstar’s ad sales, Gulshan Verma, left the organisation around the same time to become CEO of JioAds.

Akash Saxena, the chief technology officer (CTO) of Disney+ Hotstar, has accepted the position of CTO at Viacom18. Piyush Goyal, who was EVP and head of key accounts at Star, has been appointed COO of IndiaCast, the division of TV18 and Viacom18 responsible for content monetisation. Business Standard