Jason Kothari

Jason Kothari is a passionate entrepreneur and business turnaround leader.

While still in college, he acquired his childhood favorite comic book company, Valiant Entertainment, out of bankruptcy for less than a million dollars. He then led the transformation of the US based company as the CEO to the third largest superhero entertainment company after Marvel and DC Comics and a sale for $100 million, a record industry return. The Company was named Publisher of the Year, was nominated for 90 awards, and completed a landmark five-movie deal with Sony Pictures based on its characters.  This includes blockbuster movie Bloodshot starring Vin Diesel, where Jason served as an Executive Producer, releasing worldwide on March 13, 2020. He imagined the story of the Valiant comic book ‘Bloodshot’ as a movie at the age of 12 and years later worked on bringing it to the big screen, including landing the movie deal with Sony Pictures.

Subsequently, Jason was the CEO of Housing.com, one of India’s largest online real estate companies, where he led the transformation of the distressed company and then a merger with News Corp’s PropTiger to create the $350 million industry leader with News Corp., the largest strategic investor in the space globally, investing $50 million and becoming the lead investor. The Company had increased revenues by 400%, while reducing costs by 70%, and its platform became the most popular for buying and selling homes in the country. 

Following this, Jason became the Chief Strategy & Investor Officer of Snapdeal, one of India’s largest ecommerce companies valued at $6.5 billion at its peak, where he played a lead role in transforming the distressed company.  This included leading the Snapdeal 2.0 strategy & plan creation, the restructuring of the company, and the sale of non-core businesses, resulting in the company going from an over $20 million monthly loss to a profit, a first for an Indian e-commerce company, and generating $140 million in excess cash.

During this time, Jason was also the CEO of FreeCharge, one of India’s largest digital payments companies owned by Snapdeal, where he led the distressed company from a $10 million gross monthly loss a few months earlier to a gross profit and then a sale to Axis Bank for $60 million, a vital deal for Snapdeal’s turnaround and a key strategic deal in the Indian fintech space. 
In addition, he has been a senior advisor to various companies, such as Softbank, the largest technology investor; Noon.com, the largest e-commerce company in the Middle East that has raised $1 billion; Infibeam Avenues, the only publicly listed e-commerce company in India; and is on the Board of Directors of Emaar India, one of the largest real estate developers in India with over $2 billion in assets going through a turnaround. 

He holds a B.S. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and is a member of Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).  Jason was born in Hong Kong and spent most of his childhood there. He now lives in Mumbai and is passionate about helping entrepreneurs and financing media projects about inspiring stories.

His book Irrationally Passionate is a highly personal, authentic, open and complete account of a young entrepreneur’s life. Brimming with practical advice and philosophical insights, it will force readers to reflect on how they perceive life, work, family and spirituality by giving them a fresh perspective. It reveals the inside story of how a rebel, train-wreck kid transformed himself into a successful young entrepreneur and business leader who became one of the top ten paid executives in India while only in his 30s.