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News Corp exits from Hathway Cable, sells 17.3% stake for Rs 3.58 bn
MUMBAI: News Corp. has offloaded its entire stake in cable firm Hathway Cable & Datacom, allowing it to focus on its direct-to-home (DTH) and broadcasting businesses in India.
The Rupert Murdoch-led media conglomerate sold its 17.3 per cent stake to private-equity firm Providence and Macquarie Bank for Rs 3.58 billion.
Providence is the buyer and Macquarie Bank has acted on its behalf, it is learnt.
News Corp, the second largest shareholder in Hathway, held the stake through Asian Cable Systems.
“We have exited from Hathway. We were a minority partner. We didn‘t feel the need for investing into so many businesses and do not have the management bandwidth. We will continue to have presence in DTH (through Tata Sky) on the distribution side of the business,” Star India CEO Uday Shankar told Indiantelevision.com.
Asian Cable Systems sold its entire holding of 24,715,500 shares through open market transactions for Rs 145 per share, according to filings with the National Stock Exchange.
Around 14.1 million shares were purchased by Providence Equity Advisors Mauritius for Rs 2.05 billion, while remaining 10.5 million shares were acquired by Macquarie Bank for Rs 1.53 billion.
The shares were sold through separate bulk deals at the NSE.
As of 31 December 2011, other promoter entities include Akshay Rajan Raheja (17 per cent), Viren Rajan Raheja (16.74 per cent), Hathway Investments (10.47 per cent) and Spur Cable & Datacom Pvt Ltd (5.36 per cent).
Other major non-promoter shareholders of the company include Infrastructure India Holding Fund, Reliance Capital Trustee Co Ltd, Government Pension Fund Global, UTI Mutual Fund and SBI Mutual Fund.
News Corp. had acquired 26 per cent in Hathway way back in 2000, after it exited from Subhash Chandra-promoted Siticable.
Hathway scrip closed at Rs 179.55 on BSE, up 1.3 per cent.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
