“I certainly believe that consolidation is going to benefit the industry overall,” said Goenka. “Zee and Sony will form the largest media entertainment player in the country. Our revenues on a standalone basis combined will be close to $2 billion, and the capital growth that Sony is going to infuse in the merge entity will really give us the opportunity to invest in premium content and include sports.
One of those genres could be sport. Zee had sold Ten Sport to Sony in 2017, and ever since news of the merger emerged, the market is expecting the merged entity to bid on one of the biggest sports prizes in the world, the Indian Premier League cricket tournament.
The executive has been at the center of a war with Invesco, one of the leading investors in Zee with an 18% stake, which has been trying to oust Goenka and install six independent members to the board via an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders. That meeting hasn’t happened yet after the Bombay High Court allowed it to be temporarily delayed.
Speaking about the ongoing streaming wars in India, Goenka said that Zee has been slightly late in embracing new technology compared to the global players, but that this was being rapidly redressed. “I’m certain that we will catch up very quickly and give them a fight in this market just as we have done on the linear side in the past,” Goenka said.