# Kalanithi Maran

Kalanithi Maran (born 24 July 1964) is an Indian media proprietor. He is the chairman and founder of Sun Group, one of India's largest media conglomerates. He owns multiple television channels, newspapers, weeklies, FM radio stations, DTH services, a movie production house (Sun Pictures) and 2 cricket teams (Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League and Sunrisers Eastern Cape in South Africa T20 League). He also held a major share in the Indian airline SpiceJet from 2010 to 2015.

## Career

Kalanithi Maran went to the United States for an MBA degree at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. He was fascinated by the amount of channels available there, whereas India still had one television channel, part of the Doordarshan monopoly. Upon completing his MBA, he returned to India in 1987 working for his family's small publishing company, which included a weekly women's magazine. In 1990, Maran started a monthly video magazine in Tamil called Poomaalai. For every copy given to a public library, about 200 pirated copies were produced. The primary market of Poomaalai was Sri Lankan Tamils who fled to Europe. 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 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.
He has won Young Businessman awards from CNBC and Ernst & Young, and Forbes magazine named him the "Television king of southern India".
Under his leadership, channels owned by the Sun TV Network became some of the most popular and successful channels in South India. Sun TV was also the first channel in the country to set up its own earth station.
In June 2010, he acquired a 37% stake in SpiceJet from billionaire investor Wilbur Ross and promoter Bhupendra Kansagra, in his individual capacity and through his aviation company KAL Airways. He also put up an open offer for 20%, which increased his stake to more than 50%.
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$7.3 million) each in 2014.
On 24 February 2015, he sold his stake in SpiceJet to Ajay Singh, the co-founder of the airline, as a part of an reconstruction and revival scheme since the airline was facing huge losses.
In 2023, he was the 77th richest Indian, with a net worth of US$3 billion. The same year, his production house Sun Pictures produced the Tamil movie "Jailer" starring south Indian star Rajnikanth, which went on to be one of the best performing films of 2023.

## Personal life

Kalanithi was born to former Union Minister Murasoli Maran in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, on 24 July 1964. He is also the grand-nephew of former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi. He has a younger brother, Dayanidhi Maran was also a union minister. Kalanithi Maran married Kavery, a native of Kodagu. They have a daughter named Kaviya Kalanithi Maran, who is now the CEO of both his cricket franchises, Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League and Sunrisers Eastern Cape in South Africa T20 League.
He did his schooling in Don Bosco, Chennai. He graduated in commerce from Loyola College, Chennai. He did his MBA from University of Scranton. As of 2023, his net worth is US$3 billion.