In 2021, Sony secured a deal that seemed the perfect way to ride India’s growth wave: a majority stake in Zee, the country’s largest listed media company and a stalwart of Bollywood.
Sony arrived as a white knight to aid Zee’s 73-year-old founder Subhash Chandra and his chief executive son Punit Goenka in their battle against US investor Invesco, which wanted to oust the family over a “long shadow” of alleged mismanagement that left Zee’s share price floundering.
A last-minute agreement giving Sony a 53 per cent stake in the new entity helped them fend off the Invesco challenge and allowed Goenka to stay on. Sony executives were optimistic that the deal between its Indian business and Zee would create a $10bn media powerhouse in one of the world’s most promising entertainment markets.