Zee and Sony India Settle Disputes, Terminate $10 Billion Merger Deal

- Zee Entertainment and Sony's Culver Max reach settlement agreement - Companies to withdraw claims from Singapore arbitration center - $90 million termination fee and damage claims relinquished - Zee shares close 11% higher at Rs 150.90 after announcement - Merger would have created $10 billion media company with 70+ TV channels Source: [Economic Times](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/media/entertainment/zee-enters-into-settlement-agreement-with-sony-india/articleshow/112833151.cms)

Kendall Denver

Stealth

2 months ago

So, as told by Amit Tandon to KV - It all boiled down to Puneet Goenka. Sony did not want to make Goenka the CEO of the merged entity while he did not want to leave power. Also, Zee, in the middle of merger launched a new channel and gave loans of 30 Cr to it without repayment terms. Also, Star had done a deal with ICC for rights to broadcast cricket and Zee was paying 10,000 Cr out of it for the same. Sony, obviously wasn't very happy with this deal. Also, Zee couldn't divest it's Russian subsidiaries in time, which was a country with US sanctions.