News Broadcasting
Adani Group announces open offer launch on 22 November
Mumbai: In a regulatory filing with the stock exchanges, NDTV said that the Adani Group on Friday announced a revised schedule for its proposed open offer to buy a 26 per cent public shareholding in the news network.
The filing states that the Adani open offer will now likely begin accepting subscriptions on 22 November and end on 5 December.
Previous dates for Adani’s open offer were from 17 October to 1 November.
In August, Gautam Adani entities acquired Vishva Pradhan Commercial Pvt Ltd (VCPL), a lesser-known company that had lent the founders of NDTV more than Rs 400 crore.
Also read : AMG Media Networks to indirectly acquire 29.18% stake in NDTV; launches open offer
VPCL lent the money more than a decade ago in exchange for warrants that allowed it to buy a 29.18 per cent stake in NDTV at any time.
VCPL, in collaboration with AMG Media Networks and Adani Enterprises, has proposed to acquire an additional 26 per cent, or 1.67 crore equity shares, at a price of Rs 294 per share.
The promoters of NDTV had challenged the open offer and the acquisition of VCPL’s stake, claiming that the deal could not proceed without the approval of Sebi as well as the income tax department.
The Adani Group had previously denied claims that the stake sale would require tax clearance.
The NDTV promoters claimed that they were completely unaware of the takeover and that it was carried out without their consent.
Following the transaction, the acquirer (Adanis) will not directly own any equity shares in the target company (NDTV), but will own at least 99.50 per cent and up to 100 per cent of the promoter company’s paid-up share capital (RRPR Holdings).
The proposed sale of NDTV and its subsidiary, NDTV Networks Ltd., which together own 20 per cent of Malaysian media company Astro Awani Network Sdn Bhd, has been postponed in the meantime.
By letter dated 9 November the Central Bureau of Investigation withheld for the time being its approval of the transaction.
News Broadcasting
Senior media executive Madhu Soman exits Zee Media
Former Reuters and Bloomberg leader says he leaves with “no regrets” after brief stint at WION and Zee Business
NOIDA: Madhu Soman, a veteran of global newsrooms and media sales floors, has stepped away from Zee Media Corporation after a short stint steering business strategy for WION and Zee Business.
In a reflective LinkedIn note marking his departure, Soman said his time within the network’s corridors was always likely to be brief. “Some chapters close faster than expected,” he wrote, signalling the end of a nearly two-year spell in which he oversaw both editorial partnerships and commercial strategy.
Soman joined Zee Media in 2022 after more than a decade abroad with Reuters and Bloomberg, returning to India to take on the role of chief business officer for WION and Zee Business. His mandate was ambitious: bridge the newsroom and the revenue desk while expanding digital and broadcast reach.
During the stint, Zee Business reached break-even for the first time since its launch in 2005, while WION refreshed programming and strengthened its digital footprint across platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.
But Soman suggested the cultural fit proved uneasy. Describing himself as a “cultural misfit”, he hinted at deeper tensions between editorial instincts shaped in global newsrooms and the realities of India’s television news ecosystem.
Before joining Zee, Soman spent more than seven years at Bloomberg in Hong Kong as head of broadcast sales for Asia-Pacific, expanding the company’s news syndication business across several markets. Earlier, he held senior editorial roles at Reuters, overseeing online strategy in India and managing Reuters Video Services from London.
His career began in television and wire reporting, including a stint with ANI during the 1999 Kargil conflict, before moving into digital publishing as India’s internet media landscape took shape.
Now, after nearly three decades in broadcast and digital media, Soman is leaving Delhi NCR and returning to his hometown, Trivandrum.
Exhausted, he admits. But unbowed. And with one quiet line that sums up the journey: he didn’t sell his soul — because some things, after all, are not for sale.
