From Musk's Twitter buyout to Adani's NDTV acquisition: 5 big media deals of 2022

Mergers and acquisitions remained the flavour of the media industry in 2022. While the richest industrialists acquired big media houses, the pandemic-led restrictions and economic constraints forced some rivals to join hands to sail through the turbulent times. The media landscape of 2023 will be bit different thanks to these five deals that rocked the industry. 

1. Elon Musk buys Twitter 

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and the world’s richest person, shocked the world in April by announcing his interest to buy the social media platform Twitter. 

After several ups and downs in the deal, replete with withdrawn offers, lawsuits, allegations, verification worries, and many other issues, he eventually completed the deal in October by shelling out $44 billion to acquire the microblogging platform. 

Ever since his takeover, almost half of the Twitter workforce, including the boss, Parag Agrawal and top legal and policy executive, Vijaya Gadde, have been fired.

Musk has announced several new features and policies for Twitter and has kept his followers engaged on the platform. 

2.  Adani group takes over NDTV 

Radhika and Prannoy Roy, the founders of New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV, market cap approx Rs 2,100 cr), shocked the media industry this year by selling their majority stakes to the Adani Group headed by India’s richest person Gautam Adani. 

The departure of the Roys marks a significant turning point for the broadcaster that played a pivotal role in the growth of news television in India. 

Adani group first bought out a company backed by the founders, acquired more shares from the open market and then got the majority of the shares held by the couple. 

Adani Group now owns a 64.71% stake in the media group. The Roys will continue to own 5% of NDTV.  

3.  SONY-ZEE Merger gets approvals  

India’s two leading media groups Sony and Zee cleared the deck for the merger by getting major approvals in 2022. The merger was first announced in 2021. The deal size is believed to be to the tune of $10 billion. 

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) recently approved the Sony-Zee merger with slight modifications, which will see the latter selling three of its channels to allay potential competition concerns. 

The merger deal was subsequently approved by a majority of ZEEL shareholders, Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange as well. 

However, some of their lenders have recently approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against the deal. Scheduled to take place on Thursday 12th January 2023, the tribunal has permitted IndusInd Bank, Axis Finance and IDBI Bank to file applications for intervening in the proposed merger.

4.  PVR-INOX merger 

The merger between the country’s top two multiplex chains — PVR Limited and INOX Leisure — brought the erstwhile rivals together this October making them the largest multiplex chain in the country with more than 1,500 screens. 

The deal is believed to be worth $2 billion. 

PVR currently operates 871 screens, spread over 181 properties across 73 cities in India. INOX operates 675 screens through 160 properties in 72 cities. 

Analysts estimate the combine will command a 50 per cent share among multiplex screens and 16 per cent in the overall market including single screens. After the merger, the combined entity plans to open 200 new screens every year under the brand name PVR-INOX rather than refurbishing old properties. A CAPEX of Rs 500 crore will be pumped into setting up the new screens.   

5.  Moj and MX TakaTak Merger

Times Internet’s MX TakaTak and ShareChat’s Moj joined hands early this year to become India’s largest short-form video platform — a country where TikTok is still banned. The deal is believed to be worth $700 million. 

MX TakaTak, which was launched by Times Internet in July 2020, had reportedly reached 150 million MAUs, across 10 languages when the deal was inked. 

It will continue to function as a separate platform for now, but the two platforms’ creator base, content supply and recommendation algorithms are being integrated.