Kalanithi Murasoli Maran (born 1964) is an Indian media baron who is the chairman and managing director of Sun Group. He owns television channels, newspapers, weeklies, FM radio stations, DTH services and a movie production house. He also held a major share in the Indian airline Spice Jet from 2010 to 2015.
Career
In 1990, Maran started a monthly video (VHS) news magazine in Tamil called Poomaalai657 which was stopped in 1992. On 14 April 1993, he founded Sun TV with an investment of US$86,000 from a bank loan. Sun TV was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange on 24 April 2006 upon raising $133 million for 10% of the share capital and catapulting him into the billionaire charts. He was among the few representatives at a roundtable with the visiting then US President Bill Clinton.
By 2010, he was the 17th richest Indian with net worth of US$4 Billion, and was the highest paid business man in India. Maran and his wife, Kavery Maran were ranked second in the list of Indian executive pay charts with a package of ₹62 crore (US$9.6 million) each for the fiscal year 2011–2012, behind Congress MP Naveen Jindal.
He has won Young Businessman awards from CNBC and Ernst & Young, and Forbes magazine named him the “Television king of southern India”.
Business entities
- Sun Network – South Indian Television Channels
- Sun Direct DTH – Direct to Home broadcasting Service
- Suryan FM – Tamil Radio
- Red FM – Multilingual Indian Radio
- Sun Cable Vision and Sumangli Cable – Cable TV distribution
- Sun Pictures – Tamil Movie production house
- Dinakaran – Tamil daily news paper
- Tamil Murasu – Tamil evening news papers
- Kungumam, Muthaaram, Vannathirai, Kunguma Chimizh – Tamil magazines
- Sun 18 – to distribute its channels through cable, DTH, IPTV, HITS and MMDSk
- Sunrisers Hyderabad – IPL team
Kalanithi Maran net worth: Kalanithi Maran is an Indian businessman and entrepreneur who has a net worth of $2.3 billion dollars. Kalanithi Maran was born in Tamil Nadu, India in 1964. He graduated from Loyola College and was the student’s union chairman. He received an MBA from the University of Scranton. In 1987 Maran returned to India and worked for his family business Kungumam Tamil Magazine. He started a monthly VHS news magazine in Tamii in 1990 called Poomaalai. The company was stopped in 1992 due to piracy. Maran started Sun TV in 1993 with a bank loan of $86,000. In 2005 Sun TV was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Maran was one of the few o meet with U.S. President Bill Clinton on his visit to India. In 2010 Kalanithi was listed as the 17th richest Indian and the highest paid businessman in India. He was praised by U.S. President Barack Obama for being a job creator in the United States. Maran has received Young Businessman awards from ERNST & Young and CNBC. He was named “Television King of Southern India” by Forbes Magazine. He also won the News Television Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2010. Maran has owned Sun Network, Sun Direct DTH, Spicejet, Suryan FM, Red FM, Sun Pictures, Dinakaran, Tamii Murasu, Kunkumam, Sun 18, and Sunrisers Hyderabad- IPL. Spice Jet is India’s most profitable airline and was acquired by Maran in 2010.
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