Kalanithi Maran is an Indian media baron and producer. He was born on 24 July 1965 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, who is the chairman and founder of the Sun Group. He owns television channels, newspapers, weeklies, FM Radio stations, DTH services and a movie production house. He also held a major share in the Indian airline Spice Jet from 2010 to 2015.
Kalanithi Maran published the first issue of Poomaalai, a Tamil magazine, in 1990. He launched Sun TV on April 14, 1993. In order to join the ranks of the world’s billionaires, he had to raise $133 million for 10% of the share capital of Sun TV, which he did on April 24, 2006. At a small roundtable with then-visiting US President Bill Clinton, he was one of the few representatives.
As of 2010, he was the 17th wealthiest Indian with a net worth of US$4 billion and the highest-paid business leader in India. With a combined salary of 62 crores (US$7.8 million), Maran and his wife Kavery are the highest-paid Business executives in India. CNBC and Ernst & Young both named him a Young Businessman, and Forbes named him one of the 30 Under 30 in business “Supreme ruler of southern India’s television industry.
He has won Young Businessman awards from CNBC and Ernst & Young, and Forbes magazine named him the “Television king of southern India”. He has won Young Businessman awards from CNBC and Ernst & Young and Forbes magazine named him the “Television king of southern India”.
Kalanithi Maran belong to Chennai, India. His parents were prominent figures in the political community, and he grew up among them. Kalanithi is M. Karunanidhi’s grandnephew, who was the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu. The son of Murasoli Maran, a former Union Minister of Commerce, and the brother of Dayanidhi Maran, a former Textile Minister of India, he comes from a prominent political family. Poomaalai, a monthly Tamil magazine, was his brainchild and first project in the early 1990s. On April 14, 1993, with a bank loan of $200, Maran launched Sun TV.
Kalanithi Maran got married to Kavery Kalanithi. He has one child. He attended Don Bosco High School in Egmore, Chennai. He earned a business degree from Loyola College, Chennai. A graduate of the University of Scranton’s MBA program.