Sony terminates merger with Zee; Zee to take legal action

Zee Entertainment, an Indian broadcaster, announced on Monday that it will take legal action against Sony Group following the Japanese media giant Sony’s termination of a $10 billion merger involving the merger of its India operations.

Sony terminated the two-year-old merger due to disagreements over certain terms of the agreement, and they have demanded termination fees from Zee totaling $90 million.

Sony said in a statement that due to a number of factors, including unfulfilled closing conditions, the merger did not close by the end date. Since there has been no agreement on an extension of the end date despite Sony’s best efforts to discuss it, the discussion period has ended. Consequently, Zee received a notice from Sony on January 22, 2024, terminating the definitive agreements. The definitive agreements stipulated that the parties would have to discuss in good faith an extension of the end date necessary to make the merger effective by a reasonable amount of time if the Merger did not close by the date twenty-four months after their signature date (the “End Date”).

Sony sent a letter of termination after a 30-day grace period expired over the weekend due to the parties not reaching an agreement regarding a deadline that was set in late December 2023.