The share price of Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd (ZEEL) crashed 10.92 percent to ₹247.8 per share in early trade on Tuesday after reports emerged that the $10 billion merger between Zee and Sony is likely to be called off with both sides sticking to their respective stance on the appointment of Punit Goenka as the Chief Executive Officer of the combined entity.

businessline reported on Monday that that there is a high chance that the merger agreement between the two firms will be terminated ahead of the self imposed deadline of January 20.

While Goenka had verbally agreed to go through with the merger without him at the helm, he changed his stance after getting temporary relief from the the Securities Appellate Tribunal on the SEBI investigation. Now, Goenka wants to keep the original terms of the agreement

The merged firm was to own over 70 TV channels, two video streaming services (ZEE5 and Sony LIV), and two film studios (Zee Studios and Sony Pictures Films India), making it the largest entertainment network in India.

Zee denies reports

Zee has clarified that the reports appearing in media on the proposed Sony-Zee merger are baseless and factually incorrect

We wish to reiterate that the company is committed to the merger with Sony and is continuing to work towards a successful closure of the proposed merger. 

“We wish to reiterate that the company is committed to the merger with Sony and is continuing to work towards a successful closure of the proposed merger,” the company said in a filing to BSE.

Post clarification, Zee stock recovered a bit to trade at ₹260. However, the stock is still down over 6 per cent over its previous close.

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