Sphere CFO Gautam Ranji Resigns Abruptly

The financial chief responsible for Madison Square Garden’s newly opened Sphere arena in Las Vegas, Gautam Ranji, resigned abruptly from his position last week.

Gautam Ranji, who had served as the Chief Financial Officer of Dolan’s state-of-the-art $2.3 billion venue in Las Vegas for just 11 months, formally resigned from his position on Monday, with his last working day set for the following Friday. This information was disclosed by Sphere Entertainment in a securities filing released on Friday.

Sphere Entertainment clarified that Ranji’s departure was “not a result of any disagreement with the company’s independent auditors or any member of management on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure or internal controls,” according to the same filing.

Ranji, who had held the role of CFO for Sphere, the entity that also manages Madison Square Garden Networks, since the previous year, declined to provide any comments on the matter as of Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for Sphere Entertainment emphasized that “The publicly filed 8K clearly outlines that his departure from the Company was not a result of any disagreement with the Company’s auditors or any member of management.”

James Dolan, the billionaire heir to a cable TV fortune who owns the Knicks, the Rangers, Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, and other venues, invested over $2 billion in the construction of The Sphere, which exceeded its budget by more than $1 billion.

James Dolan’s business empire has experienced a series of recent executive departures. Dolan has taken a more hands-on approach in leading the Sphere project since the departure of MSG Sphere President Lucas Watson in February, who had been hired the prior March.

Christina Spade, the CEO of Dolan’s cable TV broadcaster AMC Networks, left the company in November of the previous year after a three-month tenure in the top position. She had held various roles within the company since 2021.

Andrew Lustgarten, the President and CEO of MSG Sports, stepped down in September 2022 after an 8-year tenure at the company.

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