Ravi Adusumalli, Managing Partner of the private equity firm SAIF Partners, has stepped down from the board of the digital media house Network18 Media and Investments Ltd. SAIF Partners is an existing investor in Network18, holding around 6.7 per cent stake in the company as of September 30, 2011.
This comes close on the heels of the top management shuffle at Network18. In November this year, Network18 had appointed B Saikumar as the group CEO after Haresh Chawla quit the company after a long innings to pursue new opportunities.
Saikumar is responsible for the group’s news, Web, publishing, entertainment and allied businesses, which include the IBN general news network, CNBC TV18, CNBC Awaaz, Web18, Yellow Pages and Forbes India.
The Network18 Group runs an Internet and mobile division called Web18 Software Services Ltd, which is behind one of the top media sites Moneycontrol.com and the fast-growing e-commerce site HomeShop18.com. The group also operates news channels CNBC TV18, CNBC AWAAZ, CNN-IBN, IBN 7 and IBN-Lokmat besides the joint venture Viacom18 and wire services unit Newswire18.
Besides SAIF Partners, Network18 is also backed by other high profile investors such as Tiger Global, Acacia Partners and the veteran private equity investor Ashish Dhawan in his personal capacity. Incidentally, SAIF Partners is also an investor in the group firm HomesShop18.
Adusumalli joined SAIF Partners in early 2002 and headed its Indian operations. Prior to that, he had worked with Mobius Venture Capital, Credit Suisse and Wasatch Funds. He also serves on the boards of various portfolio companies, such as NASDAQ-listed online travel services firm MakeMyTrip.
