Sony, Zee merger “progressing well”
November 15, 2021
By Chris Forrester
The major investment in Zee Entertainment by Sony has entered the due-diligence phase and the process is progressing well, according to Zee’s MD/CEO Punit Goenka.
“We are confident that the process will complete within the stipulated timeline or even before that post which we will move with our next step as mandated by the law. Proceeding is very well on track,” Goenka said during Zee’s Q2 FY22 investor call.
Reports suggest that the deal will wrap well within the 90-day deadline set by the two businesses. The merger was announced on September 22nd which suggests that the deal will wrap in mid-December, or sooner with the end of November suggested by some sources.
Goenka said that Q2 of FY22 has been a period of recovery, commenting: “we should see bounce back in ad revenue in H2. Both industry and Zee will be in line in with pre-Covid levels in terms of ad revenue”.
Zee, in terms of network market share saw an increase from 17 per cent in Q1 to 17.7 per cent in Q2 FY22. However, it is down from 19 per cent in Q2 FY21. New channels contribute 1.2 per cent of viewership share. Zee’s OTT platform’s Q2 revenues were up 17 per cent sequentially.