Star Sports CEO Gautam Thakar resigns, Sanjog Gupta to replace him

President and CEO of Star Sports Gautam Thakar has resigned. Star Sports is a multichannel sports arm of Star and Disney India that broadcasts IPL, ICC Cricket, BCCI's Cricket Club and owns the media rights to telecast Wimbledon, Premier League and other marquee global sports properties in India.

If sources are to be believed, Thakar will foray into entrepreneurship and is likely to move back to the United States. He was appointed as CEO of Star Sports in early 2018.

Thakar had moved in from Washington DC-based investment firm Revolution Ventures. A former Procter & Gamble hand, Thakar has, in the past, also held positions like senior director, international marketing at eBay, CEO of shopping.com, vice president and general manager of eBay Advertising, and president and CEO of Living Social (a local marketplace to buy and sell products in a given locality; the company later got acquired by rival brand Groupon).

Thakar, according to sources close to the development, will be replaced by the executive vice president, Star TV Network Sanjog Gupta.

Gupta joined Star India in 2010 as AVP. In 2012, Gupta was elevated by Star and as vice president, he was heading content for the broadcaster's second general entertainment channel - Life OK (Now Star Bharat). In 2015 he became an executive vice president and moved to the sports business of the network