Delhi: In a major development Sony Group Corp has sent a termination letter to Zee India over the India merger. Sources confirmed that Sony Group on Monday officially confirmed the termination of the merger deal by sending a communication.The 2-year long acquisition process was stalled midway leaving Zee group in trouble.
The Japanese entertainment network Sony made its decision and will soon inform the same to the exchange. However the official announcement is yet to come. Sony in its letter stated that conditions of merger were not fulfilled and it made them terminate the process. The termination of the $10 billion worth merger process shattered the dream of taking on strong rivals like Netflix and Amazon.com.
Sony was supposed to own 50.86% stake and Goenka’s family would own 3.99%. Sony sent a termination letter after a one month long notice which ended over the last weekend.
Spokesperson of neither Sony nor Zee responded about the termination of the deal. Bloomberg news on January 8, 2024 reported that Sony Corp is planning to call off the merger process and Zee group clarified that the merger process is still on cards.
Zee’s chief executive officer Punit Goenka is facing investigation by India’s capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Sources said that the move followed the deadlock between the two companies over whether to continue the deal with Punit Goenka.
Sources said that Sony will reconsider a fresh merger deal if Zee ousts Goenka from his position. Zee’s net profit fell by 95% in the financial year 2022-23 and Goenka’s decisions were alleged to be the main reasons for the deteriorating finances of Zee group.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Mango News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
