News Broadcasting
Deccan Chronicle IPO oversubscribed 1.82 times on Day 1
MUMBAI: The initial public offer (IPO) of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited, publishers of the English broadsheet newspaper Deccan Chronicle, opened today to a positive response from the capital markets. The 8.01 million shares on offer were oversubscribed more than 1.82 times by the end of the first day.
The public issue offer for ownership of India’s first listed broadsheet newspaper is slated to close on 2 December. The final share allocation and pricing will be determined through the book-building route, the company has determined the price band as being between Rs 162 and Rs 194. At this price, the IPO is expected to yield between Rs 1.3 billion and Rs 1.55 billion.
Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited has appointed ICICI Securities Limited as the lead managers to the issue. The issue constitutes approximately 20 per cent of the fully diluted post offer paid-up capital assuming that the green shoe option is not exercised, and approximately 22 per cent assuming that the green shoe option is exercised in full.
Deccan Chronicle is the largest circulated and read English newspaper in Andhra Pradesh. The capital raised by the IPO will be used for financing new printing facilities, and for venturing into new territories and future strategic initiatives & acquisitions. The company has announced that it will be launching Deccan Chronicle in Tamil Nadu shortly.
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.
