Eros International Announces Key Appointments to Management Team & New Media

New York and London (PRWEB) October 12, 2007

As part of its continued effort to add depth and breadth to its management team, Eros International (FTSE: EROS.L), the leading integrated company within the Indian media and entertainment sector, today announced the appointment of three new executives to its management team. Marcus Stuart joined the company as Executive Vice President of Corporate and Business Development, responsible for leading Eros New Media and global growth and business development strategies. Manu Kaushish has assumed the role of Senior Vice President of Eros New Media, where he is responsible for the management of new media partnerships and erosentertainment.com. An MTV and Warner Bros. veteran, Nayeem Syed has recently joined Eros as General Counsel of Eros International.

“As we have frequently discussed, we are committed to adding seasoned executives from diverse backgrounds to our management team to complement the existing leadership at Eros. I am really pleased that Nayeem, Marcus and Manu are joining the team during such an important stage of Eros ascension to becoming a leading player in the global media and entertainment marketplace,” said Kishore Lulla, Eros’ Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We expect to benefit significantly from their talents, perspectives and experience, supporting our goal of being the leading integrated player in the Indian media and entertainment sector.”

Marcus Stuart, EVP of Corporate & Business Development

Marcus brings a wealth of new media, B2B, investment banking and management consulting industry experience to Eros as it seeks to be the leading Indian Media & Entertainment company globally.

Prior to Eros, Marcus founded Saffron Media, a South-Asian focused media and entertainment holding company with several offline production and new media properties. Prior to Saffron, Marcus served as SVP of Marketing & Subscriber Acquisition for JumpTV.com and Managing Director of HarrisonGray’s Media & Entertainment practice. Marcus’ investment banking and management consulting industry background were forged with Arthur Andersen, Goldman Sachs and Mercer where he served a diverse array of multinational clients.

Marcus has been interviewed and featured in articles for Crain’s NY, Forbes, Consultants News, Atlanta Constitution, India’s DNA, WSJ and recently spoken on the convergence of Hollywood and Bollywood to the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Marcus currently serves as an advisor to several leading companies including Intercontinental Hotels Group, Ameranth / QOS Gaming, YouAre.tv and The Glass House. Marcus attended Boston College and the University of Georgia where he obtained degrees in Computer Science.

Nayeem Syed, General Counsel

Nayeem Syed was appointed General Counsel of Eros International PLC in July, 2007 and oversees all aspects of the Company’s legal affairs around the world. He joined Eros with over 10 years experience gained in leading global organisations in recorded music, filmed entertainment, telecommunications and broadcasting.

Previously, Syed was vice president and general counsel, MTV UK and Nordic (a division of Viacom, Inc.). In that capacity, he oversaw the team of 16 attorneys managing the legal affairs of that region, and also had legal responsibility for Viacom’s interests in its joint ventures with BSkyB in the UK, Nickelodeon UK and Paramount Comedy. He and his department also supported the launch of numerous digital media applications, including IPTV, VOD, Mobile TV, Broadband Player, Download-To-Own Service as well as its User Generated Content Service.

Prior to joining Viacom, Syed was part of the award winning legal team at Hutchison Whampoa Limited’s UK Telecommunications division. The team developed the legal and business affairs framework and managed the legal risk in creating a 2000+ employee, third generation wireless carrier, which has, from a standing start and in a fiercely competitive market, gained over 4M subscribers.

He joined HWL from Time Warner, where he spent 6 years in legal and business affairs roles between its filmed entertainment division, Warner Bros. and its recorded music division, Warmer Music International. At Warner Bros., Syed was within the EMEA HQ, supporting the company’s distribution and corporate business development and strategy divisions. The HQ team supported many of the other Time Warner divisions across the areas of Corporate, Regulatory, IP, IT, Consumer Sales and Data Protection.

Syed holds postgraduate degrees in International Business Law and Intellectual Property, both from the University of London, where he also taught Contract Law. He qualified as a Solicitor of England and Wales in 1997, and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2002.

Manu Kaushish, SVP New Media, Eros Entertainment, Inc.

Manu joins Eros Entertainment as SVP of New Media. Manu will be driving the technology to enable new media strategies that can leverage the Company’s content while creating new revenue sources from global distribution over Internet protocols, mobile and other on demand channels. Manu brings over 10 years of experience in launching cutting-edge Internet based businesses. His ventures include retail, B2B and consumer focused portals.

In 2000, Manu launched Divine Arts, one of the premiere aggregators and digital distributors of content from the Indian sub-continent. Divine Arts had distributed content for many of India’s major labels including Saregama India Limited (formerly HMV India), Ishq Records, Sagarika Music etc. to over 100 online and mobile channels such as Real Networks, iTunes, Yahoo Music, Zingy and more. Divine Arts also ventured into concert promotion, radio and television content production and media process outsourcing services and has been recently acquired by Eros Entertainment to increase the breadth of their online distribution.

Prior to Divine Arts, Manu launched Satrang, a gifting to India technology and logistics outsourcing provider. Satrang created and managed 25 gifting to India store fronts for high traffic India focused sites including 123India.com, Tehelka.com, HindustanTimes.com and more.

Manu has been a contributor to the technology sections of magazines and newspapers such as Dataquest, PC World and the Statesman in India. He created one of India’s first bulletin board services (Twilight Zone) in 1994 and was profiled in media such as The Week, Star TV, Times of India and PC Quest.

About Eros International plc

Eros International plc is an established global player in the fast-growing Indian media and entertainment arena. Being vertically integrated means that Eros not only produces and commissions films like studios but it also distributes and exploits films across formats globally via cinemas, home entertainment, television formats and new media.

Established in 1977, Eros International has three decades of market leadership in creating a global platform for Indian cinema. The company operates in over 50 countries with worldwide offices in India, UK, USA, Dubai, Australia, Fiji and Isle of Man. It has built a successful business model around the release of 30-40 new films every year and the exploitation of a film library containing more than 1,300 titles, making it one of the largest content owners in the business.

Global Distribution, Motion Pictures, Music, Home Entertainment, e-Television, New Media and Animation are the main Strategic Business Units of Eros.

Eros enters its 30th year in the business with the Vision of consolidating the fragmented industry, the Strategy of operating a vertically integrated business model.

# # #







Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *