Coldplay concert ticket row: A look at BookMyShow CEO Ashish Hemrajani who started with a ‘drunk text to boss’

Coldplay concert: Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW), on Saturday summoned the CEO of BookMyShow's parent company Big Tree Entertainment, Ashish Hemrajani as part of an investigation into alleged black market sales of Coldplay concert tickets.

Mint gives a lowdown on all you need to know about the BookMyShow CEO.

BookMyShow CEO: Ashish Hemrajani

Ashish Hemrajani, the CEO and co-founder of BookMyShow launched Bigtree Entertainment in 1999. The company later launched its portal BookMyShow for booking tickets online.

Hemrajani had started his career working with the J. Walter Thompson company, an American advertising agency, where he was responsible for accounts and client management.

'Drunk text to boss'

Ashish Hemrajani had revealed in an interview that he had shared his business idea for BookMyShow with his boss through a drunk text message in 1999, reported Entrepreneurs Today.

In an interesting turn of events, Hemrajani's then boss had supported his idea. ‘No problem. Go for it,’ was the reply that set the BookMyShow founder on the path of the platform's creation.

Ashish Hemrajani career

The BookMyShow CEO completed his graduation from Mithibai College, Mumbai. He has also earned an MBA from Sydenham College of Economics and Commerce, Maharashtra.

Ashish Hemrajani net worth

According to a report by Karostarup, the BookMyShow CEO's net worth currently stands at ₹3000 crore.

The online ticketing platform was built after Ashish Hemrajani came together with two of his friends Parikshit Dar, Rajesh Balpande to kicktsart the platform.

Coldplay concert row

The BookMyShow CEO's summon comes after a Mumbai based lawyer Amit Vyas accused the online ticketing platform of facilitating the black marketing of tickets the tickets. The British band will perform at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai from January 19 to 21 next year.

The tickets for the Coldplay concert in Mumbai went live on September 22, on BookMyShow. However, within a matter of minutes, all the tickets were sold out, leaving fans disappointed.

Originally priced at ₹2,500, the Coldplay tickets are now being resold by third parties as well as influencers for as much as Rs3 lakh, said Vyas.

In other news, Shiv Sena(UBT) spokesperson has also written to Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde for probing into the alleged ‘black marketing’ of tickets.

Catch latest updates here.