Times Group sells 'Ei Samay' to Adv Sanjay Basu and industrialist Anurag Choudhary
The Times Group was disinterested in operations of the Bengali daily due to changes in business dynamics, said an industry insider about the sale
In a surprising move, the Times Group has sold its flagship Bengali daily "Ei Samay" to Advocate Sanjay Basu, believed to be a close aide of the Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The size of the deal was not immediately clear. Tidings Media and Communication Pvt Ltd, which operates from the East India House in Kolkata and incorporated on April 18, has acquired the daily.
The sudden shift in the ownership, from one of the oldest and largest media houses in the country to a month-old Tidings Media and Communication Pvt Ltd, has left the media sector wondering.
More interestingly, the acquisition announcement came from Basu, not from the BCCL. “Exciting news! Anurag Choudhary and I have acquired EiSamay a leading Bengali newspaper and digital outlet. Today marks the start of a new and thrilling journey!” Sanjay Basu posted on his LinkedIn Page last week.
Basu, a partner at AQUILAW and the standing counsel for the West Bengal Government in the Calcutta High Court and Supreme Court, has set-up this firm along with an industrialist Anurag Chaudhary, who is the Chairman, Managing Director & CEO at Himadri Speciality Chemical Ltd.
Basu faced scrutiny in March 2023 following raids by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an alleged Ponzi scam.
e4m sent a questionnaire to the BCCL and Sivakumar Sundaram to understand the size of the deal, accommodation of staff and their further plans to serve Bengali consumers. The story will be updated as and when they respond.
Basu’s response is also awaited.
BCCL’s sojourn
The Times Group launched Ei Samay, its flagship Bengal daily, in 2012, as a broadsheet daily newspaper with a motive to enter into a head-to-head competition with Anandabazar Patrika.
Launched amid much fanfare on the first day of Navratri, Mahalaya on October 15 that year, it was the Times Group’s first Indian language newspaper in 50 years. “For many of us in The Times Group, this is like coming home,” the TOI wrote at the time of Ei Samay launch, referring to a bunch of Bengali executives leading its various editions and other group entities.
“The Times Group was disinterested in its operations due to changes in business dynamics. The company was looking to divest Ei Samay for a long time. Their deal with another media house didn’t materialize,” an insider said.
