YouTube names Gunjan Soni as country managing director for India
New Delhi, Apr 28 (PTI): YouTube on Monday announced the appointment of Gunjan Soni as the Country Managing Director for India. Soni has had successful stints at ZALORA, Star India and Myntra. She steps into her new role, following the exit of Ishan Chatterjee last year.
With over two decades of leadership experience spanning business, technology, marketing, and e-commerce, Soni is set to lead YouTube's growth and innovation efforts in India, the Alphabet-owned video platform said in a release.
Soni joins YouTube from ZALORA, where she served as Group CEO for six years based in Singapore. During her tenure, she was instrumental in introducing new categories and business models, fostering innovation, and enhancing user experience through personalisation and a successful loyalty program.
Soni also possesses significant Indian media and marketing experience, having worked as EVP at Star India and CMO at Myntra. Prior to that, she was a Partner at McKinsey in the Consumer and Marketing practice. She serves on the board of CBRE Group, a Fortune 500 company.
"YouTube's journey in India continues to be vibrant and dynamic, representing a country filled with immense creative energy and potential....Gunjan's deep understanding of the creator economy and India's video commerce landscape, combined with her leadership, will enable us to accelerate creator growth, unlock new opportunities, engage users, and contribute meaningfully to India's digital journey," Gautam Anand, Vice President, YouTube APAC said.
Soni said the way YouTube empowers creators and connects communities across India, is "truly inspiring".
"I am both humbled and thrilled to join this dynamic team and lead a platform that has long supported the powerhouse of talent that is the Indian creator economy," she said.
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Netanyahu says there is 'no way' Israel halts war in Gaza until Hamas is defeated
Tel Aviv, May 13 (AP): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there is “no way” Israel will halt its war in Gaza, even if a deal is reached to release more hostages.
His comments are likely to complicate talks on a new ceasefire that had seemed to gain momentum after Hamas released the last living American hostage on Monday in a gesture to US President Donald Trump, who is visiting the region but skipping Israel.
They pointed to a potentially widening rift between Netanyahu and Trump, who had expressed hope that Monday's release of Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander would be a step toward ending the 19-month war.
In comments released by his office Tuesday from a visit to wounded soldiers the previous day, Netanyahu said Israeli forces were just days away from a promised escalation of force and would enter Gaza “with great strength to complete the mission. ... It means destroying Hamas.”
Any ceasefire deal reached would be temporary, the prime minister said. If Hamas were to say they would release more hostages, “we'll take them, and then we'll go in. But there will be no way we will stop the war,” Netanyahu said. “We can make a ceasefire for a certain period of time, but we're going to the end.”
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The dispute over whether to end the conflict has been the main obstacle in negotiations going back more than a year.
Israel says 58 hostages remain in captivity, with as many as 23 of them said to be alive, although authorities have expressed concern about the condition of three of them.
Many of the 250 hostages taken by Hamas-led militants in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that started the war were freed in ceasefire deals.
