Sony Group says that it has officially notified Zee Entertainment Enterprises of plans to call off the merger between its India unit and the Indian media network, ending a two-year acquisition saga and leaving Zee vulnerable to competition as rivals bulk up.
The entertainment giant sent a termination letter to Zee as the conditions necessary for the merger were not met, it said on Monday.
The move follows a stalemate between the companies over whether Zee’s Chief Executive Officer Punit Goenka would lead the merged entity amid an investigation into his conduct by India’s capital markets regulator. The standoff now appears to have scuttled the deal, which would have created a $10 billion media giant with the financial muscle to take on global powerhouses Netflix and Amazon.