Zee Entertainment soars on Sony merger revival buzz

Shares of Zee Entertainment closed around 8% higher today. This comes at a time when reports claim that the merger talks between Zee Entertainment and Japan’s Sony Group have been revived. The meeting reportedly took place between Zee Entertainment and Sony Group officials over the last two weeks. Both the companies are reportedly looking to “salvage” the $10 billion deal.

The Zee-Sony merger was called off in January 2024, primarily due to the lack of consensus on who would lead the newly formed mega-entity, according to reports. The agreement reportedly stated that Punit Goenka would lead the merger entity. But, amid charges of siphoning the money, Sony didn’t want him to lead the merged entity, claimed reports.

Another hindrance to the merger was the $300 million write-off on cricket broadcasting rights. The lack of a consensus on this matter had further prolonged merger talks.

The agreement stated that the deal has to be finalised by 21 December 2023. However, the differences between both these entities weren’t resolved even during the grace period which ended on 21 January 2024.

Meanwhile, after the deal was scrapped, the management of Sony recently had called Indian markets “appealing” and said that it had great potential. The management added that Sony will try to seek various opportunities in the Indian market.