ABP Majha
ABP Majha is a 24-hour Marathi news channel owned by ABP Group. It was launched in the year 2012. It was earlier known as Star News. Star News had entered into a joint venture with ABP Group after a change in the government policy. Later the two split and ABP News was formed. Aveek Sarkar played a major role in the split. He was the Chief Editor of ABP Group and Editor –in-Chief of AnandaBazar Patrika and The Telegraph at that time.
ABP News is currently owned by ABP News Network which is a subsidiary company of ABP Private Limited. Avinash Pandey is the CEO of the company. It is one of the prominent Marathi news channels in India.
Audience Share
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Ownership Type
Private
Geographic Coverage
National
Content Type
Free to Air / Satellite + Cable
Media Companies / Groups
ABP Group
Ownership Structure
ABP Majha is controlled and owned by ABP News Network Private Limited. ABP Private Limited owns 100% share of ABP News Network.
The shares of ABP Private Limited are divided among 4 members of the Sarkar family: Aveek Sarkar (19.5%), Arup Kumar Sarkar (19.5%), Atideb Sarkar (19.5%) and Shithi Sarkar (19.5%). The remaining 21.9% shares are held by ABP Holdings Private limited.
The shares of ABP Holding Private Limited are further divided among the four family members: Aveek Sarkar (25%), Arup Sarkar (25%), Shithi Sarkar (25%) and Atideb Sarkar (25%). Therefore, the family controls 100% of ABP Holding Private Limited, i.e. it’s 21.9% stake in ABP Private Limited.
Hence, the Sarkar family controls in total 99.99% share of ABP Private Limited.
Voting Rights
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Individual Owner
General Information
Founding Year
2012
Affiliated Interests Founder
is the Vice Chairman of the ABP Group of Publications and Editor Emeritus. He is the son of Ashok Kumar Sarkar, the owner of Ananda Bazar Patrika, and the grandson of Prafula Kumar Sarkar, the founder of the Ananda Bazar Patrika. He is a graduate from the University of Calcutta, and has trained under Sir Harold Evans, the Editor of The Sunday Times, while in Britain. He is credited for transforming the ABP Group from a regional entity into a national player.
The author of “Paper Tigers”, Nicholas Coleridge has described Aveek Sarkar in his book as “India’s most sophisticated newspaper proprietor”, and goes on to describe him as “a man of impeccable tastes and choices from the food he has to his wardrobe”.
Aveek Sarkar is also the Director of The Press Trust of India (PTI), ABP News Network Private Limited, Cima Gallery Private Limited, and Sarkar Consultants Private Limited.
Affiliated Interests Ceo
the current CEO of ABP News Network Private Limited, is a Delhi University Graduate, having completed graduation in History and a post graduate degree in Modern Indian History. He has also done an Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. Earlier in his career, Pandey was with the Indian Express Group and was a part of the leadership team that launched television channels Headlines Today (now called India Today TV) and AajTak, as part of the India Today Group.
The network’s website credits Pandey with the seamless transition in 2012 when Star News became ABP News, and the other channels – Star Ananda became ABP Ananda and Star Majha became ABP Majha. ABP News also underwent repositioning and rebranding at that point.
Apart from ABP News Network, Pandey is on the board of Indian Broadcasting Foundation, a representative body of TV broadcasters in India, and on the board of News Broadcasters Association of India. He is also a member of Credit Control in Indian Broadcasting Federation. He has served for over 7 years on the board of International Advertising Association, India Chapter.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
is the younger brother of Aveek Sarkar, the founder and owner of ABP Group. Earlier, Arup Sarkar was the Chief Editor of the group’s Bengali magazines. He is also one of the Directors of ABP Private Limited, ABP Holdings Private Limited and Sarkar Consultants Private Limited.
Affiliated Interests other important people
is the Executive Director of the company and is responsible for strategy at the ABP Group. He is a B.Sc Economics Honors graduate from the Warwick University. He did his Masters in Economics from the University College, London. He is the son of Arup Kumar Sarkar and Shithi Sarkar. His mother Shithi Sarkar holds 25% share in ABP group.
He serves on the Boards of ABP Private Ltd and ABP News Network Private Ltd. Apart from these 2 companies, he is also a Director of Wedoria Technologies Private Limited and the Indian Newspaper Society. Atideb Sarkar is currently responsible for ABP News Network, the group’s television business.
is the shareholder of ABP Group and is the wife of the owner, Arup Kumar Sarkar and the mother of Atideb Sarkar. She holds 25% of shares in ABP Group.
Contact
ABP News Network Private Ltd
A-37, Sector 60,
Ashok Marg, Noida,
Uttar Pradesh 201307, India.
Tel: 0120 407 0000
Website: abpmajha.abplive.in
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
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Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
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Advertising (in % of total funding)
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Market Share
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Further Information
Meta Data
The data on the outlet was obtained from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). The data is available for the year 2016-2017. And hence the Shareholder pattern is based on those documents. MOM team sent an email on the 10th January 2019 followed by a letter on the 1st February 2019 to ABP News to confirm the data given in the document.