Kalanithi Maran
Biography
Kalanithi Murasoli Maran is an Indian billionaire media mogul who is the chairman and founder of the Sun Group. He owns television channels, newspapers, weeklies, FM radio stations, DTH services, a cricket team (Sunrisers Hyderabad), and a movie production house. He also held a major share in the Indian airline Spice Jet from 2010 to 2015
In 1990, Maran started a monthly magazine in Tamil called Poomaalai. On 14 April 1993, he founded Sun TV.Sun TV was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange on 24 April 2006 upon raising $133 million[10] for 10% of the share capital, catapulting him into the billionaire charts. He was among the few representatives at a roundtable with the visiting then-US President Bill Clinton.
By 2010, he was the 17th richest Indian, with a net worth of US$4 Billion, and is the highest-paid business executive in India. Maran and his wife, Kavery were ranked the highest-paid Business executives in the list of Indian executive pay charts with a package of ₹62 crore (US$7.8 million) each.
He has won Young Businessman awards from CNBC and Ernst & Young, and Forbes magazine named him the "Television king of southern India".
Kalanithi Maran is the son of the former Union Minister of India Murasoli Maran and grand-nephew of Former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi. His younger brother Dayanidhi Maran was also a former minister. Kalanithi Maran married Kaveri, a native of Coorg, and has a daughter named Kaviya Maran. He had his schooling with Don Bosco, Egmore, Chennai. He graduated in commerce from Loyola College, Chennai. He did his MBA from the University of Scranton.[18] As of 2023, his net worth is US$2.3 billion.
