How The Arranged Marriage Between Zee And Sony Could Pan Out?

Circumstances broker a coupling of Zee and Sony, two companies with distinctly different cultures and strengths. As they unite for a new future, they still face several hurdles, including an upset Invesco, Zee’s largest investor, and their own contradictions. The real challenge for the new mates has only just begun

- Krishna Gopalan

IT HAS BEEN a busy 12 months for Punit Goenka. Sitting in his spacious room in Zee Entertainment Enterprises’ central Mumbai office, the relief on his face is palpable. He has just signed a deal to merge Zee, where Goenka is the MD & CEO, with Sony Pictures Networks India. Though the deal was in the making for over a year—as is normal in M&As—valuation was a contentious issue. With a combined revenue of $1.79 billion, this would be the second largest entertainment network after Star & Disney India, which has revenues of $1.8 billion, a shade more than the new entity. Importantly, the Zee-Sony entity will have 75 channels and a strong presence in entertainment, sports and regional markets, making it a serious player.

The sequence of events that led to the deal is quite apt for two companies that create content from such storylines for a living. The first move was made by Sony in November 2020, but that offer was not acceptable to Goenka. Things started moving about three months later when KPMG reached out to him on behalf of Sony with a better valuation. By August 2021, he was in the thick of it. “I was in London on holiday, but constantly on the phone with my team back here to thrash out the deal,” reveals Goenka. Why was Sony interested? N.P. Singh, MD & CEO of Sony Pictures Networks India, says his company wanted to expand its footprint. “For a while, we had discussed the possibility of doing something with Zee. Once we were clear, I took it to my bosses.”

The basic contours were agreed on, and a board meeting was scheduled for October. All hell broke loose when Invesco, the Atlanta-based investment management firm that holds an 18 per cent stake in Zee, accused it of corporate mis-governance. (Invesco did not respond to queries from