News Broadcasting
Network 18 gets shareholder approval to borrow up to Rs 1800 cr
MUMBAI: The board of directors (BOD) of Network 18, at its annual general meeting (AGM) seeked shareholder approval for allowing borrowing power up to Rs 1800 crore. At the same time the BOD of TV18 also requested the same for Rs 1500 crore.
Both the resolutions were passed giving the BOD rights to borrow till the limit over and above the paid-up capital, free reserves and securities premium account.
Another special resolution was to get an approval to offer or invite to subscribe to non-convertible debentures on private placement basis for both the companies.
‘Private placement’ means any offer of securities or invitation to subscribe securities (equity or securities that convert to equity) to a select group of persons by a company, other than by way of public offer, through issue of a private placement offer letter.
Bothe the special resolutions were passed at the AGM with 100 per cent votes.
The ordinary resolution passed at the meeting included, re-appointment of Raghav Bahl as a director who retires by rotation, appointment of Rohit Bansal and Vinay Chhajlani as directors and appointment of Deepak Parekh and Adil Zainulbhai as independent directors.
Other resolutions include appointment of auditors and fixing their remuneration (ordinary resolution), approval of the remuneration of the cost auditor (ordinary resolution) and adoption of new articles of association of the company (special resolution).
It has been four months since the Bahl-founded company was taken over by petrochemical conglomerate Reliance Industries’ chairman Mukesh Ambani.
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.
