Via an SMS Rishi Khiani informs us that “I am moving on to focus on my startup, and had put in my papers some time ago.” He declined to comment on exactly what his startup is going to be about, saying only that he’ll let us know when he can talk about it.
Satyan Gajwani, until now the Director (New Media) at the Times of India group, is going to take over as the CEO of Indiatimes* (Times Internet Ltd) from Rishi Khiani, Gajwani has confirmed to MediaNama. Speculation has been rife about Khiani moving on from the company, and we had about this heard from at least three different sources over the weekend. Messages and calls to Khiani over the weekend trying to confirm his move were unanswered, and the buzz, which began almost six months ago, had become stronger. Khiani will remain with the company for a few months, and the buzz is that he is planning to start up, though this is unconfirmed.
Gajwani has been significantly involved with strategy and products at Indiatimes ever since Khiani joined the company, and at a recent Ad:Tech event, he outlined in significant detail, the Times of India groups new approach to the Internet. Watch that video here.
Incidentally, it’s almost exactly three years to the day when we had first reported that Khiani was joining Indiatimes, replacing Dinesh Wadhawan. Prior to joining Indiatimes, Khiani was the COO at Web18, which he had joined after he had sold his company UrbanEye to the Network18 group.
During Khiani’s three year tenure as CEO, Indiatimes won the Internet and mobile rights for the Indian Premier League, launched Gaana.com, TimesDeal.com, a blogs network including Luxpresso, GuyLife and HealthMeUp, revamped Indiatimes.com, TimesofIndia.com and EconomicTimes.com, among others. The company is also launching a online video streaming service called BoxTV.
Corrigendum: We’d incorrectly mentioned that Gajwani was Director (Business Development) at the Times of India group. He was Director (New Media). Our apologies for the error.
Exclusive: Satyan Gajwani To Take Over As Indiatimes CEO From Rishi Khiani - MediaNama