Japan’s Sony Corp is in talks to acquire a stake in Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s TV business, Network18 Media & Investments Ltd, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
Sony is doing the due diligence and considering several potential deal options, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Ambani’s Reliance Industries and Sony did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Network18 Media & Investments Ltd shares rose as much as 18.25% to their highest since June 13 and TV18 Broadcast Ltd shares were up 4% on the report of the talks.
Network18’s channel portfolio include VH1, Nickelodeon, MTV, CNBC TV18, and a range of other local language channels, along with news portals like Firstpost and Moneycontrol.
The media company also has a broad suite of news channels including CNN-News18, CNBC TV18, and other regional language news channels that together held over a 10% share in TV news viewership in India in fiscal 2018-19, according to its annual report.
(Content and photos syndicated via Reuters)