- Shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises to drop by almost 5% during intraday trade on Tuesday.
- The largest-ever entertainment deal in the nation is now in danger of failing following months of negotiations.
- Conflicts surfaced, chiefly around the choice of the combined company’s CEO.
The $10 billion merger of Sony Pictures’ India business with Zee is unlikely to happen any time soon, according to a Mint article that caused shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises to drop by almost 5% during intraday trade on Tuesday.
The largest-ever entertainment deal in the nation is now in danger of failing following months of negotiations, especially over the choice of a CEO for the merged company.
Zee Entertainment
The lingering difficulties and discussions among the participating corporations have intensified due to the lack of clarity surrounding the merger’s outcome.
In an official request, Zee asked for more time to complete its planned merger with Sony India to establish the biggest media conglomerate in India. The current deadline for merging the two companies is December 21, 2023.
The deadline for the merger is two years from December 21, 2021, the day the two media businesses signed their merger agreement. Conflicts surfaced, chiefly around the choice of the combined company’s CEO.
Zee’s request for an extension comes at an interesting time because it does so in tandem with the failure of two independent directors, Vivek Mehra and Sasha Mirchandani, to get re-appointed to the board of the firm.
The two directors “failed to get the requisite majority of votes,” according to the company’s disclosure in an exchange filing, which further complicated the already convoluted situation surrounding Zee Entertainment and the planned merger with Sony India.
