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$ 5 million in the kitty, Karthikeyan to race for Jordan in F1
MUMBAI: He has made it! India’s motor sport icon Narain Karthikeyan is all set to become the first Indian to drive on the F1 circuit. Tata Motors, along with JK Tyres and Bharat Petroleum, have put together the $ 5 million required to secure an offer from the Jordan team.
“Narain has been offered a full drive by Jordan as their number one driver. He has accepted it,” Karthikeyan’s manager Sanjay Sharma was quoted in a Reuters report as saying.
Karthikeyan is scheduled to address a press conference in Mumbai later today confirming the news. The 2005 F1 season starts in March.
It is pertinent to note that Karthikeyan had got an offer to race with Minardi in 2003, but missed out as he was unable to raise the monies required to secure the offer. Currently, $ 5 million is the minimum required to secure a place in F1 with any of the top teams.
An immediate spin-off from Karthikeyan’s driving for Jordan is that it will give huge positive traction on the advertising front for ESPN Star Sports, which has exclusive telecast rights for Formula 1 in India.
Karthikeyan has been sponsored by Tata Motors (then called Tata Engineering) since 2002 as India’s entry into the Formula 3 World Series motor car racing.
Interestingly, JK Tyres, the other sponsor, was earlier backing Karun Chandhok, who, along with Karthikeyan and Hari Singh, are the three Indians to have made a mark in the international motor sport arena.
MAM
Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
