Disney+ Hotstar’s Sidharth Shakdher joins Ola as global chief business officer

Sidharth Shakdher, formerly EVP and chief marketing officer at Disney+ Hotstar, has joined ANI Technologies (Ola Mobility) as the global chief business officer, sources close to the development revealed. 

As part of his responsibilities, he will be in charge of Ola's revenue, growth, and marketing initiatives both within India and on the global stage. This includes overseeing established mobility businesses as well as venturing into new sectors like e-commerce. Verticals including growth, marketing, and new initiative functions across Ola globally will report to him.

Shakdher had been a  part of the founding leadership team of Disney+ Hotstar and led marketing, international growth and D2C business. Over the past eight years he had been the driving force behind making Hotstar, India's largest premium video streaming platform, as well as the largest D2C subscription business in India. 

He played a key role in Hotstar, setting several live streaming world records, and has held multiple mandates at Hotstar, including growth, operations, data science and the AVoD business leadership over the years. He joined the streaming platform in 2016 as the senior vice president and growth head and was elevated to EVP and CMO in January 2021.

Prior to joining Disney+ Hotstar, he led the marketplace and category marketing for Amazon in the US. He has also led innovations for Reckitt Benckiser's flagship brand Dettol for North America, launching and subsequently establishing Dettol in the personal care segment in the US for Reckitt. 

With over two decades experience, he has also worked at Xerox, HP, Canon and Samsung in the past.