For founder-promoter Raghav Bahl, it is all over. In an unprecedented swirl of events, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has taken charge of a media and entertainment empire that boasts of crown jewels like CNBC TV18, CNN-IBN and Colors. In the process, there has been drama never witnessed before in Indian corporate history.
The last couple of days has seen the exit of Network18 group CEO B Saikumar, COO Ajay Chacko and CFO RDS Bawa. More are to follow and the industry is expecting the announcement of Bahl’s exit any time now. Though the writing was on the wall ever since Bahl inked a deal with Ambani in 2012, nobody expected the end would come so early and in such an overwhelming way. India’s richest billionaire will have his stamp all over. In 2012, nobody noticed a clause that would have allowed RIL to step in any time with full direct control. Even if they had, they hadn’t swallowed it in.
The industry had given it a few more years, with Ambani indirectly calling the shots. One could have sniffed the change on Wednesday when Saikumar announced his resignation. Later in the evening, Chacko said he was quitting. Surprising as the day before, he had called TelevisionPost.com’s editor-in-chief to discuss about the company’s financial results (which was announced the same day). No matter how prepared we all were, the big shocker came the next day. RIL said its “board had approved funding of Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) to Independent Media Trust (IMT), of which RIL is the sole beneficiary,” for taking over Network18.
Drama unfolds as Reliance Industries takes charge of Network18 and TV18 | TelevisionPost.com
The last couple of days has seen the exit of Network18 group CEO B Saikumar, COO Ajay Chacko and CFO RDS Bawa. More are to follow and the industry is expecting the announcement of Bahl’s exit any time now. Though the writing was on the wall ever since Bahl inked a deal with Ambani in 2012, nobody expected the end would come so early and in such an overwhelming way. India’s richest billionaire will have his stamp all over. In 2012, nobody noticed a clause that would have allowed RIL to step in any time with full direct control. Even if they had, they hadn’t swallowed it in.
The industry had given it a few more years, with Ambani indirectly calling the shots. One could have sniffed the change on Wednesday when Saikumar announced his resignation. Later in the evening, Chacko said he was quitting. Surprising as the day before, he had called TelevisionPost.com’s editor-in-chief to discuss about the company’s financial results (which was announced the same day). No matter how prepared we all were, the big shocker came the next day. RIL said its “board had approved funding of Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) to Independent Media Trust (IMT), of which RIL is the sole beneficiary,” for taking over Network18.
Drama unfolds as Reliance Industries takes charge of Network18 and TV18 | TelevisionPost.com
