With Punit Goenka at the helm, NP Singh to hold leadership role on ZEE-Sony Board

Following Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) and Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) agreeing to merge, it has been proposed that Punit Goenka, current Managing Director & CEO of ZEEL, will lead the combined company. Meanwhile, NP Singh, MD and CEO, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI), will hold a leadership role on the Board of directors of the combined entity.

This was stated by Ravi Ahuja, Chairman, Global Television Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment Corporate Development, in an internal mail to employees. Praising Singh’s contribution over the years, Ahuja said, “Today’s agreement with ZEEL would not have been possible if not for the strength and market prominence of SPNI, and the outstanding leadership of NP Singh, SPNI’s MD and CEO. NP has been with SPNI for over 20 years and has worked tirelessly with his excellent teams to build SPNI into what it is today. Sony is firmly committed to investing in India. SPE will have a majority stake in the combined company, and we expect that NP will hold a leadership role on its board of directors.”

He thanked NP and his teams at SPNI for their ongoing hard work and dedication, the leadership at Sony Group HQ for their support, as well as Sony’s Corporate Development and Legal teams for getting the company to this point, specifically Erik Moreno, John Fukunaga, and Eric Gaynor and their teams.”

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As reported earlier, SPNI has entered into an exclusive, non-binding Term Sheet with ZEEL to combine both companies’ linear networks, digital assets, production operations, and program libraries. Both ZEEL and SPNI will create a combined content platform that can compete with domestic and global platforms and accelerate the region’s transition to digital.

Ahuja further wrote, “We are only at the beginning of what will likely be a months-long process. The next 90 days will be an exclusive negotiating period for both companies to conduct due diligence and negotiate definitive documents. Following that, the combination would be subject to closing conditions, including requisite regulatory, corporate, and third-party approvals including ZEEL shareholder vote.”