News Broadcasting
Zee stock soars on rumours
It is happening again. Beleagured media major Zee Telefilms (ZTL) which has been under pressure for the last few months, is suddening gaining support – at least, on the bourse.
This time the rumour doing the rounds is that Zee’s promoters have privately placed shares at Rs 185 with a foreign media major as against Thursday’s closing price of Rs 118.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The Zee stock had almost hit the upper circuit filter yesterday at Rs 125.40, before closing at Rs 118.
The company that is being quoted as the buyer is none other than AOL Time Warner, whom Zee is reportedly trying to rope in as a strategic partner. Talk within the company surfaced around a month and a half ago that AOL Time Warner was warming up to getting under the sheets with the network. At that time the ZTL share was trading at around Rs 71. Since then, the ZTL share has been steadily on the rise.
A ZTL press release earlier this week, however, denied the rumour of any such placement but reiterated that the promoters’ decision announced in May 2001 to rope in a global media player as a strategic ally, is still on. ZTL has appointed investment bankers UBS Warburg as advisor in its search for a partner.
Media analysts, when contacted, say they did not believe any private placement had taken place as yet (at the time of writing), but suspect that someone is playing in the scrip.
The stock had earlier been on the decline, going down from Rs 270 at the beginning of the year, to Rs 86 on the day of its AGM in late September. The post AGM period saw the scrip hammered down to Rs 71 (9 October). The average volume, which was 10 million, came down to 4 million. But the scrip has turned around since. Today, the scrip had climbed by 4 per cent and was trading at Rs 121.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
