BookMyShow rejigs senior leadership as it realigns business model

Mumbai headquartered entertainment ticketing platform BookMyShow on Wednesday said it has reshuffled its management team to focus on new verticals and streamline core business.  

The company has elevated Anil Makhija, former head of operations and service delivery to COO of live entertainment and venues vertical. Makhija will take over from Albert Almeida who will now head brand partnerships for the platform. 

The company’s recently-launched streaming business, BookMyShow Stream will be headed by Ashish Saksena, who is the COO of cinemas at BookMyShow. Saksena led the company’s expansion to add more screens, grow the platform’s point-of-Sale business and increase its F&B offering to enhance revenues. 

Marzdi Kalianiwala will move to the role of senior vice president for product and design from being vice president of business intelligence at the company. Head of technology Mahesh Vandi Chalil who joined BookMyShow in September 2020 will spearhead technological governance, advancements, solutions and recommendation for enterprise architecture on the platform as senior vice president. 

Owned and operated by Big Tree Entertainment, the platform’s major contributors to revenue including online ticket sales and live events have come to a standstill due to the pandemic. Movie theatres were closed as part of the national lockdown and have been asked to operate at limited capacities or shut temporarily due to the second wave. The leadership changes reflect the company’s shift to focus on other business avenues. 

“In its 21 year long journey, BookMyShow has been through its share of black swan events that have significantly changed not only the way we run business, but also the underlying consumer experience. However, with every such unpredictability, BookMyShow has only bounced back stronger and more ready to face the next big challenge,” said Ashish Hemrajani, CEO at BookMyShow in the statement.  

For the financial year 2019-20, BookMyShow saw its net sales fall by 8.73% on a standalone basis year-on-year, even as income from live events fell by 82% and ticketing revenue fell by 38.5%.