Shoba Purushothaman (Tamil), from Malaysia, is currently Chairman of Synaptic Digital, a company created when TheNewsMarket, a digital news video platform co-founded by Shoba Purushothaman and her business partner Anthony Hayward, acquired NASDAQ-listed Medialink in 2009.
Shoba served as CEO and President of The NewsMarket until March, 2009. Prior to The NewsMarket, Shoba was a partner and director of Bulletin International, an international broadcast PR consultancy that was sold in 2001 to Cordiant Communications Group, now part of WPP. Shoba Purushothaman spent the first nine years of her career as a journalist.
Contents |
Shoba Purushothaman began her career as a journalist with Malaysian Business, a business magazine based in Kuala Lumpur. She then worked for Dow Jones & Company, at its Wall Street Journal newspaper and its newswires Dow Jones Capital Markets Wire and AP-Dow Jones News Service in in Washington D.C., New York and London.
Shoba met her future business partner Anthony Hayward when she was working at the Wall Street Journal as an intern and he was a photo-journalist with Reuters News in Washington D.C. in 1987.
After nine years as a journalist, Shoba joined Anthony Hayward in 1994 at Bulletin International plc in London as a partner. Shoba established Bulletin’s Asian operations, head-quartered in Singapore in 1995. Bulletin grew regional operations in Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne and Hong Kong between 1995-1998. Shoba moved to New York in 1998 to establish Bulletin in the U.S. Bulletin was sold in early 2001 to Cordiant Communications plc, a publicly-listed marketing services group that was subsequently acquired by WPP Group.
Shoba Purushothaman and Anthony Hayward co-founded The NewsMarket in 2000 and Shoba served as CEO and Anthony as Chairman of the Board. The Company established operations in London, Mumbai, Munich, Ahmedebad, Beijing and San Francisco while she was CEO. Investors include Apax Partners, Battery Ventures, Hearst Interactive Media, and Softbank Capital. Shoba left The NewsMarket operating team in September 2009 upon the completion of its acquisition of NASDAQ-listed Medialink. She is non-executive Chair of the re-branded entity, Synaptic Digital.
The NewsMarket is an online distribution service that brings newsmakers and journalists together via a single Web-based platform to allow the exchange of video news content. News organizations utilizing its services include CNN, CNBC, BBC, EuroNews, Bloomberg TV and Reuters. As of early 2009, more than 25,000 media outlets in 190 countries use The NewsMarket site [2] to access, preview and order free broadcast-quality video and other multimedia content for use in their programming.
Shoba has given guest lectures at Columbia University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Stern School of Business, NY University, Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California and Berkeley University, California. She is on the Advisory Board of Columbia University’s Strategic Communication program at the School of Continuing Education.
Shoba Purushothaman studied at the Methodist Girls’ School (Junior and Senior) in Kuala Lumpur. She completed her BA in English Literature and Japanese language from Monash University (Melbourne, Australia).
Shoba Purushothaman was a recipient of a Journalism Fellowship awarded by the Asia Foundation in 1986 at the Center for Foreign Journalists.
Shoba Purushothaman completed the Master in Economic Communication from American University (Washington D.C.) in 1988. In 2000, she completed the executive education program, the Owner-President Management program at Harvard Business School.
Journalism Fellowship from the Asia Foundation, 1986
Honorable Mention, Entrepreneur of the Year, Inc. 2005
Asian American Business Development Center Outstanding 50 Asian Americans 2005
Finalist, Ernst & Young, Entrepreneur of the Year, 2006, New York
Springboard Enterprises North Star Award 2008