Times Internet ropes in Zomato’s SVP Durga Raghunath as TOI’s digital head

Times Internet has roped in Durga Raghunath as digital head of Times of India, Mirror Brands, Newspoint, Gadgets Now and Etimes. Before joining Times Group, Raghunath was serving as ‘SVP Growth’ at Zomato and previously as founder and CEO of Firstpost and Network18 Digital. 

The Gurugram-based venture has also elevated Rohit Saran as the Chief Editor of Times Internet. He was previously the managing editor for The Times of India (Print) and executive editor of The Economic Times (Print). 

Raghunath will look after the product and business sides of the aforementioned brands.

The appointment of Raghunath and elevation of Saran, have come at a time when media companies, especially print media, have been seeing the worst phase in terms of advertising revenue. Newsrooms across the country including Times Group, had laid off employees and also shut down loss-making verticals.

Speaking on the announcement, Gautam Sinha CEO Times Internet said, “Durga’s entrepreneurial energy and experience, and Rohit’s broad editorial exposure and deep understanding make us believe we can set and achieve audacious goals over the next five years. Both senior leaders would report to Times Internet COO Puneet Gupt.”

The hiring of Raghunath is one of the high profile hires for Times Internet in the past couple of years. Last month, the Gurugram-based company’s Chief Strategy Officer Miten Sampat had announced his departure after a seven-year-long stint. 

Sampat has led investments, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships for the firm. Besides Sampat, Times Internet-owned accelerator’s managing partner Soaib Grewal also resigned last month. He has joined early-stage investing firm TVenture as a partner.