News Broadcasting
moneycontrol.com editorial shuffled; moves to integrated news room
KOLKATA: From today, the skeleton editing staff of moneycontrol.com, a business and finance news portal, which operated from Matunga (West), will be operating from the television unit at Lower Parel.
It is learnt from industry sources that more than six reporters who were engaged in the financial news writing have been asked to leave.
“Network18 Group won’t be producing any original content for moneycontrol.com. It has adopted a rationalised move by laying off all the reporters engaged in financial news writing. More than six reporters have been asked to resign and made to cite that they are walking out from the news organisation on personal reasons, the release letters of the employees disclose,” revealed the highly placed media source.
TV18 Broadcast which has laid off around 300-400 people as a part of its restructuring exercise and has merged the operational teams of CNN IBN and IBN7, will now be producing the content for moneycontrol.com too. The young team would be editing the copies filed by the television bureau, sources added.
The portal’s editor Santosh Nair has been asked to report in the Lower Parel office, but there is no clarification regarding whom he will be reporting to. Earlier, Nair reported to R Jagannathan, editor at Firstpost.com.
Also, it is interesting to note that the portal’s chief executive officer Joyson Thomson was mulling to list the entity but it seems he has changed his plans overnight. “Though of late, moneycontrol.com was driven by marketing strategies and not hard core news perspective which it adopted earlier,” sources said.
There were talks the news portal would set up an editorial team at Delhi and Kolkata. “In fact a year ago, the company was eagerly looking to hire an editorial staff for the Delhi bureau,” sources said.
“The first carnage happened in the second week of August when TV18 said it would ask around 300-400 employees to leave. We got the notice in the last week of August,” recounts an employee.
When asked about the compensation package, he said: “The compensation package is up to the mark as we have been offered three months CTC and not in hand salary.”
Media analysts said that TV18 has restructured its operations and reduced its workforce significantly, as part of a cost cutting exercise due to the lackluster advertising environment and government regulations like the 12 minutes advertising cap on broad asters.
Now going forward with this downsizing, journalists are required to work across both internet and TV medium, as the group has created integrated newsrooms.
News Broadcasting
Network18 Q4 revenue grows 9.7 per cent, EBITDA at Rs 30 crore
PAT improves to Rs 306.6 crore, margins steady amid cost pressures.
MUMBAI: Not all news is breaking, some of it is quietly improving. Network18 Media & Investments Limited appears to be doing just that, tightening losses and stabilising margins even as costs continue to weigh on the business. For FY26, the company reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,955.1 crore, up from Rs 1,896.2 crore in FY25, signalling modest top-line growth in a challenging media environment. Total income stood at Rs 1,978.2 crore, compared to Rs 1,913 crore a year earlier.
Profit after tax came in at Rs 306.6 crore for the year, a sharp turnaround from Rs 3,225.4 crore in FY25, largely reflecting the absence of large exceptional items that had inflated the previous year’s numbers. On a more comparable basis, the company’s operating performance showed signs of gradual stabilisation.
However, the quarterly picture remained under pressure. For the March quarter, Network18 reported a loss of Rs 53.1 crore, narrower than the Rs 98.1 crore loss in the same period last year, but still indicative of ongoing cost challenges.
Expenses continued to track high. Total expenses for FY26 stood at Rs 2,235.7 crore, up from Rs 2,197.8 crore in FY25. Key cost heads included operational expenses of Rs 765.9 crore, employee benefits of Rs 475.9 crore, and marketing, distribution and promotional spends of Rs 427.1 crore, underlining the continued investment required to sustain reach and engagement.
At an operating level, margins remained under strain. Operating margin stood at 2.33 per cent for FY26, marginally higher than 1.77 per cent in FY25, while net profit margin remained negative at -13.02 per cent, though improved from -14.89 per cent.
On the balance sheet, total assets rose to Rs 8,957.6 crore as of 31 March 2026, from Rs 8,317.5 crore a year earlier. Equity strengthened to Rs 4,958.7 crore, while borrowings increased to Rs 3,112.8 crore, reflecting a higher reliance on debt to support operations.
Cash flows told a mixed story. While financing activities generated Rs 83.9 crore, operating cash flow remained negative at Rs -24 crore, highlighting ongoing pressure on core cash generation. Cash and cash equivalents, however, improved to Rs 33.9 crore from Rs 1.8 crore.
The numbers point to a company in transition growing revenues, trimming losses, but still grappling with structural cost pressures. In a sector where scale often comes at a price, Network18 seems to be inching towards balance, one quarter at a time.
