Rishi Jaitly named CEO of Times Global Partners

New Delhi: Times Internet, the digital arm of The Times of India group, on Wednesday appointed former Twitter Inc.’s India head Rishi Jaitly as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Times Global Partners, a group initiative that supports the launch and expansion of emerging global digital companies in India.

Jaitly will replace Puneet Singhvi who was heading Times Global Partners till now as chief operating officer.

“We are thrilled to welcome Rishi to the Times Group. In the last decade, under his leadership, both Twitter and Google have grown from scratch and are now immersed in every segment of India’s business, media and digital landscape,” said Satyan Gajwani, vice-chairman at Times Internet.

Prior to this, Jaitly was serving as the country head and then as vice-president, Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, at the micro-blogging platform Twitter for four years. Jaitly quit Twitter on 1 November. He was a member of Google’s original Indian management team before joining Twitter.

“My mission has always been to harness the power of technology and media to ensure we fully realize the untapped potential of people, communities and markets. Joining The Times Group as CEO of Times Global Partners advances my mission and the work of building bridges to and within India,” said Jaitly in a statement issued by the company.

This appointment comes as a part of the Times Group’s efforts to scale up its investments in and partnerships with global technology and media platforms “who aspire to fully realize their growth opportunity in India”. HT Media Ltd, which publishes Mint and the Hindustan Times, competes with the Times Group.

Earlier in June, Times Global Partners had signed a joint venture with American news brand Vice Media Llc for an “expansive partnership” that will see the global youth media brand launch digital, television, mobile and branded content in India.

Times Global Partners has also brought media brands such as Huffington Post, Business Insider and Gawker Media, among others, to India in the past few years.