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☆ What’s next for Zee shares? Here’s what Wall Street analysts are saying after Sony merger was called off
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Ganesh Rao | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Shares of the Indian media house fell 34% on Tuesday, while investors shrugged off the impact on the $124 billion Japanese media and technology giant Sony. ZEEL-IN 1Y mountain What are analysts saying about Zee shares, moving forward? Citi sharply slashed its price target on Zee's stock from 340 Indian rupees to 180 Indian rupees. Zee has not stated whether it will pursue the merger while the litigation with Sony could hinder improvements in operations or explore a merger with other players," the analysts added. Similarly, Elara analysts added, "Possibility of any other strategic/financial partner buying majority stake in Zee could provide respite to valuation multiples."

Persons: Motilal Oswal, Zee, Motilal, Aliasgar Shakir, Karan Taurani, Pulkit Chawla, Emkay, Zee's, Punit Goenka, Chawla Organizations: Zee Entertainment, Sony, Zee, Citi, Wall, Reliance, Disney Star India, Motilal Oswal, Star, Disney, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Reliance Industries, Media, Elara, RIL, Zee Management, Quintillion Business Media, Bloomberg News, NDTV Locations: India, Zee

☆ Japan's Sony terminates $10 billion merger with India's Zee
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Japan's Sony Group said on Monday it has sent a termination notice to Zee Entertainment to call off a $10 billion merger of their Indian operations, following an impasse over who will lead the combined entity. It cited unmet conditions of the merger agreement as the reason for the termination. Although Sony did not specify on Monday what conditions were unfulfilled, a stalemate over who will lead the combined company had put the merger in danger. Zee proposed CEO Punit Goenka, but Sony disagreed in light of a market regulator probe into Goenka. On Friday, Zee had said it was committed to the merger and was working to close the deal through "good faith negotiations".

Persons: Mukesh, Zee, Punit Goenka, Karan Taurani Organizations: Sony, Zee Entertainment, Reliance Industries, Goenka, Reuters, Disney, Elara Capital, Netflix, Disney's Star, Zee, Bloomberg Locations: Mumbai, Maharashtra

☆ Disney nears deal to sell $10-bln valued India business to Reliance -Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

However, Disney may now sell a controlling stake in the business to Reliance, the Mukesh Ambani-controlled conglomerate whose streaming platform's success has weighed on the U.S. company's Indian business, Bloomberg reported. Reliance, whose broadcast venture Viacom18 runs JioCinema, values Disney's India assets, which comprises the Disney+ Hotstar streaming service and Star India, at between $7 billion and $8 billion, the report said. The enterprise value of the India business, Disney's biggest last year globally by users, was seen at around $15 billion to 16 billion when Disney took over Fox's business. The deal could be announced as early as next month, although no final decision has been made and Disney could still decide to hold onto the assets, Bloomberg reported. JioCinema has put increased pressure on Disney India and other streaming platforms, with Ambani marketing the platform by offering free access to the Indian Premier League cricket tournament, digital rights of which were earlier with Disney.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Gautam Adani, Kalanithi Maran, Mukesh Ambani, JioCinema, Ambani, OTT, Karan Taurani, Taurani, Varun Vyas, Rama Venkat, Savio D'Souza Organizations: Disney, REUTERS, Rights, Reliance Industries, Bloomberg, Reuters, Sun TV Network, Blackstone, Reliance, Star India, Disney's, Disney India, Indian Premier League cricket, Elara Securities, Thomson Locations: India, Bengaluru

The company already owns digital streaming rights to the popular Indian Premier League Twenty-20 (IPL T20) tournament. Ambani snatched away the rights from the Disney Plus Hotstar streaming service in a $2.9 billion bid last year, and then streamed games for free. This prompted Disney subscribers to flee - out of 61 million users in October 2022, about 21 million had left by July this year. Last year, Disney renewed its media rights to show International Cricket Council's tournaments in India from 2024 to 2027 after winning a bid for $3 billion. It later licensed the TV broadcast rights to India's Zee Entertainment (ZEE.NS) and only regained the digital streaming rights, a source told Reuters.

Persons: Mukesh Ambani, Francis Mascarenhas, Mukesh Ambani's, Walt Disney, Viacom18, Ambani, Karan Taurani, Aditya Kalra, Nandan Mandayam, Biplob Kumar Das, Sonia Cheema Organizations: Reliance Industries, REUTERS, Walt, Control, Cricket, BCCI, Indian Premier League, Disney, Elara, Reuters, Asia Cup, ICC Cricket, India's Zee Entertainment, Thomson Locations: Mumbai, India, India's

☆ Subway India is now charging extra for a cheese slice
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Reuters —Subway sandwiches in India will no longer come with the option of a free cheese slice following revisions to its menu that analysts say are more about cost-cutting than just a matter of taste. They now charge 30 rupees ($0.40) extra for the cheese slice in most sandwiches, but are offering a free “cheezy” sauce instead. Subway has “replaced the cheese slice with liquid cheese blend … You just lost a loyal customer,” one unimpressed customer, Sumit Arora, wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. A Subway store manager in New Delhi told Reuters the new cheese sauce costs 400 rupees per kilogram. If a customer adds the cheese slice — which was once free — it will now cost up to 15% more.

Persons: Domino ’, “, ”, Sumit Arora, Mayur, Karan Taurani Organizations: Reuters, Subway India, Brands, Twitter, India’s, Subway Locations: India, Nepal, New Delhi

☆ Subway India takes away free cheese slice, offers sauce as inflation bites
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Riddhima Talwani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

They now charge 30 rupees ($0.40) extra for the cheese slice in most sandwiches, but are offering a free "cheezy" sauce instead. Subway has "replaced the cheese slice with liquid cheese blend ... You just lost a loyal customer," one unimpressed customer, Sumit Arora, wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. A Subway store manager in New Delhi told Reuters the new cheese sauce costs 400 rupees/kilogram. A cheese slice, said Culinary Brands' marketing head Mayur Hola, "can be added on at a small cost". A Subway sandwich costs around 200-300 rupees ($2.4 to $3.6) in India, and if a customer adds the cheese slice - which was once free - will now cost up to 15% higher.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, Everstone, Sumit Arora, Mayur, Karan Taurani, Riddhima Talwani, Varun Vyas, Jatindra, Saurabh Sharma, Aditya Kalra, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: REUTERS, Subway, Brands, Twitter, Reuters, India’s, Thomson Locations: Manhattan , New York City, U.S, India, DELHI, Nepal, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow

NEW DELHI, May 13 (Reuters) - Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s streaming platform JioCinema announced premium pricing of 999 Indian rupees ($12) a year, its first step to move away from a free content model to fight global rivals such as Netflix and Disney in the country. The JioCinema website on Saturday showed the new premium pricing for Hollywood content, with the much-awaited Succession series available for streaming. JioCinema has become popular for showing the IPL cricket tournament on the platform for free in the ongoing season. The new pricing, according to the website, is only for premium content, while the matches continue to stream for free. Viacom18 won the IPL digital streaming rights from 2023 to 2027 for around $2.9 billion, rights which Disney previously held.

REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis/File PhotoSummarySummary Companies Reliance's JioCinema to lock horns with Netflix, DisneyWarner deal to boost English content, local content in focus tooExecutives say Warner deal will boost Reliance streaming plansJioCinema content quality key to beat rivals, analyst saysMUMBAI, April 28 (Reuters) - The video streaming business of Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest person, is likely to focus on pricing and local content following a deal with Warner Bros as it seeks to challenge the likes of Disney and Netflix, industry sources said. While Netflix and other rivals boast of content specially created for the India audience, JioCinema's current free offerings largely include old Hindi and local language movies. The big challenge is lack of fresh local and global content on JioCinema, something that will be become even more critical as the IPL season ends next month. They have also diversified into regional local language content. The only way to scale up is to really differentiate your content and make sure execution is right," he said.

Members of media and Jammu and Kashmir government officials wait to enter a multi-screen cinema hall run by India's leading multiplex chain Inox before its inauguration in Srinagar September 20, 2022. "Even the Q3 releases, which happen to take place during the festive season, are somewhat muted and underwhelming in the response they are getting," film producer and trade analyst Girish Johar said. In the first quarter, Inox reported a 29% occupancy rate, while PVR said its rate was 33.6% in the same period. The two chains are set to merge in an all-stock deal and become the country's largest exhibition company with 1,546 screens across 109 cities. And we have some major challenges with the content in Q2," Inox Chief Executive Alok Tandon said in an earnings call on Wednesday.

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