According to Gautam Adani, his foray into the news industry, which includes his purchase of NDTV, is more of a “duty” than an economic opportunity. The Indian billionaire further asserts that he had requested NDTV founder Prannoy Roy to continue serving as the network’s chair in an interview with the British daily Financial Times.
“Why can’t you support one media house to become independent and have a global footprint?” In the interview, Adani makes the comment that there isn’t a single news source in India that can be compared to outlets like the Financial Times or Al Jazeera.
He claims that his conglomerate’s investment in establishing a global media organisation will be “negligible.”
Adani Enterprises’ nascent media division, AMG Media Networks Ltd, said in August that it was acquiring a 29.18 percent interest in NDTV. The agreement triggered an open bid that would allow Adani’s business to take control of the bulk of the TV network by acquiring a further 26 percent of it. The sale started on November 22 and has purportedly so far obtained 28 lakh shares for Adani Enterprises. It concludes on December 5.
The committee of independent directors for NDTV last week praised Adani’s open bid as being “fair and acceptable.” However, it pointed out that since the offer began, NDTV’s shares had continuously traded for more than the offer price. It advised NDTV’s public stakeholders to independently assess the open offer and the market performance of the network’s shares, and take informed decisions accordingly.
Adani tells the British newspaper in response to a question about press freedom,“Independence means if government has done something wrong, you say it’s wrong. But at the same time, you should have courage when the government is doing the right thing every day. You have to also say that.”
AMG Media Network also purchased a share in BQ Prime, formerly known as BloombergQuint, earlier this year.
