TOKYO: Sony “terminated” on Monday the $10-billion merger of its Indian operations with local rival Zee Entertainment that would have created a new streaming giant in the world’s most populous nation.

The joint entity with mooted annual revenue of $2 billion would have helped both firms better compete with Disney, Amazon and Netflix in the entertainment market of 1.4 billion people. But with reports that Sony was unhappy with Zee’s performance since the merger was agreed in late 2021, the Japanese giant said that conditions to close the deal “were not satisfied”.

Another stumbling block was reportedly Zee’s insistence that its chief executive Punit Goenka, son of founder Subhash Chandra, run the combined entity. Both men are being probed by India’s financial markets regulator over alleged fraud. They deny any wrongdoing.

Zee said that Goenka “was agreeable to step down in the interest of the merger” and that it proposed an extension of up to six months to close the deal. It added in a statement that Sony was also seeking a “termination fee” of $90 million for alleged breaches by Zee, a claim that the Indian company said it “categorically refutes”.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2024