{"id":51759,"date":"2026-05-12T12:07:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T06:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=51759"},"modified":"2026-05-12T11:54:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T06:24:53","slug":"from-seven-to-kuku-tv-inside-ms-dhonis-quietly-massive-business-empire-that-spans-4-industries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/cricket\/from-seven-to-kuku-tv-inside-ms-dhonis-quietly-massive-business-empire-that-spans-4-industries\/","title":{"rendered":"From SEVEN to Kuku TV: inside MS Dhoni\u2019s quietly massive business empire that spans 4 industries"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"biz-cards\">\n<div class=\"biz-card\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"biz-card\">\n<div class=\"bc-val\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\">\n<h2>The lifestyle brand that started it all<\/h2>\n<p>MS Dhoni has never been a man who announces himself. His business portfolio follows the same philosophy \u2014 quiet, wide, and more durable than most people realise. The most visible pillar is SEVEN, the footwear and lifestyle label he co-owns and that markets itself directly as \u201ca brand by MS Dhoni.\u201d Launched in 2016, SEVEN has built loyal retail presence across India \u2014 not explosive growth, but the kind of brand recognition that outlasts trend cycles.<\/p>\n<h2>Why owning a football club at 32 was a genius move<\/h2>\n<p>Dhoni became co-owner of Chennaiyin FC in the Indian Super League back in 2014 \u2014 one of the earliest and clearest examples of a top Indian cricketer taking actual equity in another sport, not just a naming deal. Over a decade later, that bet has appreciated significantly as ISL football has grown into a mainstream national competition. Alongside it sits Dhoni Entertainment, founded in 2019, which focuses on multi-language content and IP creation rather than merely lending Dhoni\u2019s face to other studios.<\/p>\n<h2>Betting on the next generation of digital entertainment<\/h2>\n<p>The freshest chapters are unmistakably digital. In March 2026, ET reported that Dhoni invested in Kuku TV, an Indian micro-drama platform, while simultaneously becoming its brand ambassador \u2014 a structure that blends equity with long-term visibility. A month later, Moneycontrol reported his participation in LightFury\u2019s $11 million raise, backing eCricket, a cricket gaming title with serious interactive sports ambitions.<\/p>\n<h2>The pattern behind every bet<\/h2>\n<p>That consistent mix shapes the public perception of Dhoni\u2019s second innings: controlled, selective, and founder-friendly. Rather than chasing every category, he backs formats where trust, loyalty, and long shelf life matter. For a man who speaks so little about business, his portfolio says a great deal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pull-quote\">\u201cDhoni\u2019s business playbook is less about noise and more about long shelf life \u2014 brands and bets where loyalty and trust matter most.\u201d<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The lifestyle brand that started it all MS Dhoni has never been a man who announces himself. His business portfolio\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":437,"featured_media":30160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cricket"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51759"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51761,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51759\/revisions\/51761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}