NewsX — sold … really?

Right, I’ve stayed away from talking about this all day long. Mostly because I’ve been trying to figure this whole thing out, using the little information that’s out there. Let’s start with what we all know:

After weeks of speculation,the die is cast, the deed is done, NewsX has a new set of owners. Vinay Chhajlani and Jehangir Pocha are the promoters of a company called Indi Media Pvt Ltd, which has bought out all the existing stakeholders of INX News Pvt Ltd.

WHO

Vinay Chhajlani is the CEO, Webdunia/ Owner, Naidunia / Managing Director, SUVI Information Systems Pvt. Ltd. / President, Diaspark Inc. New Jersey (a wholly owned subsidiary of SUVI). He is a Graduate in Electrical & Electronics Engineering, topping the 1984 batch at BITS Pilani and has an MS in Printing Technology from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), New York.

Also on Facebook, LinkedIn and there’s this interview on Exchange4Media. For even more, go to Zoominfo.

Jehangir S. Pocha was the Boston Globe’s China correspondent until March 1, 2007 — when he became editor of Businessworld magazine in India, taking over from Tony Joseph. He has a slightly out of date website, where you can find out more about him. He read Economics at Bombay University, and then went on to complete an MBA and a Masters in Public Administration at Harvard.

Also on LinkedIn, and then, there’s this charming little biography.

WHO-X

Peter Mukerjea, Indrani Mukerjea.

‘Nuff said, here’s wishing the new owners well.

Hang on, there’s more

Call me stupid, but a sale means someone paying money and getting something in return. Based on this understanding of how the world of buying and selling works here are a set of questions that nobody seems to be answering:**

According to the exchange4media report, Indi Media has taken over all shareholder stakes, except for the portion set aside for ESOPs. How much did Indi Media pay the shareholders of INX News Pvt Ltd? Or, how much was INX News valued at?

Why has there been no formal announcement about this “sale” from the Mukerjeas? In the past, they’ve been very quick to issue press releases about all sorts of things … The INX Network website no longer has any mention of NewsX. It’s as if the channel never existed.

Quick Aside: Which brings me to particularly scurrilous speculation about an Indian business tycoon, who decided to call in the money the Mukerjeas owed him (or her). When they said they couldn’t pay him (or her) back, he (or she) basically made them sign over their stake, and INX media’s stake, to Indi Media. Of course, this is completely speculative and will disappear from here and the deepest, darkest, recesses of my mind, the moment a press release is issued that clearly states the terms of the deal. In a post-Satyam world, this should be a joint press release from the former promoters and the current promoters. And, oh yes, they should also make sure the auditors are present to answer questions about fair value, book value etc. Did I hear you say it’s a deal between two private limited companies and therefore no disclosures are required till the end of the year … well, it’ll be interesting to see how this pans out.

Also, the exchange4media report says there is no impact on INX Media. I’m not so sure. For one, all the multi-channel ad packages that have been sold included a news channel, along with the GEC and the music channel. So, what happens to ad packages already sold?

And where are the FIIs? Have they cut their losses and run, or have they chosen to invest faith (and money) in Indi Media?

Where are all the business reporters? I’m going to look forward to reading what Sruthijit over at Mint has to say about all of this …

Recovered from the site’s WordPress archive, where it was published on 2009-01-09.