’Sign from the Lord’: Punit Goenka tweets from Ram Janmabhoomi as Zee-Sony merger fails

Zee Entertainment Enterprises CEO Punit Goenka on Monday reacted to Sony officially ending the merger of its India unit with Zee. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he called it a ‘sign from the lord’.

Goenka said, “As I arrived at Ayodhya early this morning for the auspicious occasion of Pran Pratishtha, I received a message that the deal that I have spent 2 years envisioning and working towards had fallen through, despite my best and most honest efforts.”

“I believe this to be a sign from the Lord. I resolve to move ahead positively and work towards strengthening Bharat’s pioneering M&E Company, for all its stakeholders," he added.

Japan's Sony Group Corp has sent a termination letter to Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), citing its plans to call off the merger between its India unit and the media network.

Sony, in a statement, said, “The Merger did not close by the End Date as, among other things, the closing conditions to the Merger were not satisfied by then. Sony Pictures Networks India Private Ltd (SPNI) has been engaged in discussions in good faith to extend the End Date but the Discussion Period has expired without an agreement upon an extension of the End Date. As a result, on January 22, 2024, SPNI issued a notice to ZEEL terminating the definitive agreements."

“The definitive agreements provided that if the Merger did not close by the date twenty-four months after their signature date (the “End Date"), the parties would be required to discuss in good faith an extension of the End Date required to make the Merger effective by a reasonable period of time."

The termination letter from Sony also came after a 30-day grace period ended over the weekend when the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement on a deadline set in late December.

Earlier on 19 January, it was reported that Sony is set to pull the plug on the proposed $10-billion merger of its India unit with Zee Entertainment after more than two years of negotiations.

The deal unraveled as the media giants failed to agree on who would lead the combined entity, with the Japanese conglomerate disinclined to have Zee’s Punit Goenka at the helm, said two people with direct knowledge of the developments.