Kalanithi Maran

Kalanithi Maran is a famous tycoon in the world of Indian media. He was born on July 24th,1964 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Maran is the son of former Union Minister of Commerce, Murasoli Maran Murasoli Maran was an Indian Politician and a prom >> Read More... , and the grand nephew of former Tamil Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi. He is the owner of various newspapers, radio stations, movie production house, DTH services, and weeklies. He was also an investor in Spice Jet, which is an Indian airline during the period from 2010 to 2015. Maran started off with his career in 1990 by launching a video magazine in the Tamil language which was for giving news in various fields. It started with the name Poomalaai. But due to several issues, it came to an end two years later in 1992.

In 1993, with a huge amount of investment from a bank loan, he founded the Sun TV. He took a loan of 86,000 U.S dollars. Sun TV is a satellite television in Tamil. In October 2015, it was declared as one of the most viewed channels in India under the entertainment category.Sun TV broadcasts around 150 programs both on-line and off-line. It also has syndicated broadcasts in several foreign countries like the United Kingdom, United States of India, and Canada. Sun TV is also responsible for hosting many Tamil film related events annually.

In 2015, the number of employees working under Sun TV was around 2000. Sun TV raised 133 million dollars in 2006 for 10% of share capital. It got listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange. This event also leads to the entry of Maran into the charts of billionaires. Six years later in 2010, he was declared as one of the 20 most richest Indians with a net worth of 4 million U.S dollars. He also got declared as one of the highest paid businesspeople in India. He, along with his wife, was ranked second in the Indian executive pay charts list.

In 2007, the Central Bureau Investigation Department of India filed a case against Maran for the taking over of Aircel by Maxis Communication. This controversy got solved after a period of many months. Maran is a winner of Young Businessman awards from CNBC and Ernst and Young. He earned the title of Television king of southern India by the magazine Forbes. Some of his business components are Sun Network, Sun Direct DTH, Sunrisers Hyderabad, a famous Indian IPL team, Red FM, Sun Pictures, and Sun Cable Vision. Muthaaram, Vannathirai, Tamil Murasu, are the names of Tamil magazines and newspapers.

He married Kaveri, who is a resident of Coorg in 1991. They have been blessed with a girl child in 1992, whom they named Kavya.