OpenAI hires JioStar CEO Kiran Mani to head Asia-Pacific biz
25 Mar 2026, 05:22 PMMani will join in June, relocate to Singapore, and report to Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon.
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OpenAI has hired Kiran Mani, CEO of JioStar, to lead its Asia-Pacific business, the Bloomberg reported.
Mani will join in June, relocate to Singapore, and report to Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon.
As CEO, he led platforms such as JioHotstar and Cricinfo, overseeing consumer experience, content strategy, and revenue growth. Previously, he spent over 13 years at Google where he held multiple leadership positions across regions. Before Google, he worked at Microsoft and IBM.
Mani's appointment underscores OpenAI’s growing focus on Asia, particularly India, as it competes with rivals like Google and Anthropic for users in large, fast-growing markets.
As of early 2026, the Sam Altman-led ChatGPT maker had an estimated 100 million weekly active users in India, making it the company’s second-largest market globally after the US.
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