Sunil Shetty flexes dot.com muscle

By Satyabrata Das
No Hera Pheri about it: as reported last week, noted actor and savvy business person Sunil Shetty is poised to make an aggressive move for a share in the Internet goldrush.

Shetty will be involved in two new dot.com ventures. Though he refused to divulge the size of the two companies, he said: “It will be big.” The independent venture will be bigger than the portal with a foreign partner, said Shetty.

The actor will tie up with a UK-based entertainment portal. “I will hold a minority stake in the company,” he said, even as he refused to name the company. The two companies are scheduled for talks on April 24. In May, the UK-based firm will sign up celebrities.

“We are planning to make an announcement next month. We plan to launch by June,” Shetty said. Though Shetty did not elaborate on the portal, he said it would be a purely entertainment venture. “We will be marketing entertainment. It will be an e-commerce portal,” he said.

Shetty also plans to start a second portal where he will hold a majority stake. It will also be related to entertainment and have a scope for merchandising activities. “I am in fashion, movies, and food. So the portals I will be involved in, will relate to this,” he said. The two dot.com ventures, Shetty said, will benefit the movie industry. “The film industry is plagued with a lot of pilferage at the exhibition and distribution levels. The two portals will seek to address that grievance,” Shetty said.