News Broadcasting
Pyramid Saimira Theatre IPO subscribed over 15 times
MUMBAI: The entertainment industry is riding on the wave of a strong stock market boom. The latest initial public offering (IPO) to have won support of the investors is Chennai-based Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd. The issue has been subscribed 15.40 times, the company said.
The equity shares of the company are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE. Pyramid Saimira Theatre entered the capital market on 11 December with a public issue aggregating Rs 844.4 million. The price band was fixed at Rs 88 to Rs 100 per equity share of Rs 10 each
The company has 148 screens and operates with over 1.8 million sq. ft. The IPO proceeds will be used for expansion of the current theatre chain into the northern region and consolidation in South India.
Pyramid plans to reach 350 screens operational by March 2007 with 9.60 million sq.ft. under operational management. The company plans to have over 2000 screens in 1550 locations across India with 58.75 million sq. ft. under operational management by 2010.
The total fund requirement is estimated at Rs 1.11 billion. This is being financed through IPO money and pre-issue capital and internal accruals of Rs 267.5 million. An amount of Rs 710.75 lacs has already been brought in by promoters on 30th November 2006 towards their contribution to the issue.
The project also includes the conversion of theatres into digital exhibition systems by installing digital projectors, servers, VSAT terminals and audio and video equipments. Further, there will be investment in a central network operating center [“NOC”] which will enable service provisioning for content transmission, rights management, theatre management and networked revenue management.
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.
