Having spent over three decades with The Times of India group, our Wizard with Words was decidedly one of the best persons to be asked this question. Without any further ado, here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the May 23 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…
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Q. Your views on the Times group split between Messrs Samir and Vineet Jain? As someone who has worked with both very closely, did you see this coming? And what is the impact you see happening in the media in general and Times of India specifically?
A. Division of business/ wealth is a usual practice in owner-driven companies, be it by business or amongst the next generation of owners. I doubt if the media landscape will get impacted dramatically in the medium- or short-term. A development in an individual company generally doesn’t deeply impact an industry landscape. Of course over a period of time, innovation through disruptive technologies and business practices might alter competitive positions in the industry.
So far as the concerned group is concerned, I can’t extrapolate my acquired wisdom (till 2012) to the new imperatives of running a media business and of course the way the concerned entrepreneurs would focus and drive their business. Having said that, I would hasten to add that the concerned entrepreneurs have been demonstrating cutting edge initiatives and strategy to maintain dominant market position / perception. I presume the divided entities would continue the same trend either to deeper focus on respective businesses or through a symbiotic partnership, in sync with market expectations. These are early days of the new entities and one can’t predict their future direction deterministically, now.