After nearly two years of negotiations, Sony Group Corp. has officially notified Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. that it plans to terminate the proposed merger between Sony’s India unit and the Indian media conglomerate(Bloomberg Reports). Sony cited unmet conditions of the merger agreement in its termination letter sent to Zee early Monday morning.
The dissolved deal would have created a $10 billion entertainment giant to compete with streaming services like Netflix and Amazon in India’s rapidly growing media market. However, disputes over Zee CEO Punit Goenka’s future leadership role amid an ongoing investigation into his conduct stymied the agreement. Goenka’s position had remained a major sticking point during months of back-and-forth between the companies.
With the end of the Sony deal, Zee now faces a more vulnerable position in India’s consolidating media landscape as rivals join forces. The broken deal is a major setback for Zee as it seeks to bulk up its content production and gain an edge over competitors in the streaming media wars.
