Sony announces plans to explore other opportunities in India

Following the termination of its $10 billion merger with Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Sony Group, on Wednesday, announced its intention to seek various other opportunities in India. 

Hiroki Totoki, president, COO & CFO of Sony, emphasised that India has a great growth potential on a long-term basis. "It's a very appealing market," he said, answering an investor's question during the earnings call after the conglomerate declared its results for the quarter ended December 31, 2023.

Sony Group terminated the merger agreement with Zee on January 22, citing the inability of the Indian company to fulfill the closing conditions. It has also sought a $90 million termination fee from Zee, a claim that has been disputed by the latter. Subsequently, Zee approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to direct Sony to proceed with the merger.

Speaking about the termination of the merger, Totoki said, "The negotiations are not progressing at the moment."

"Therefore, we will try to seek various opportunities. And if we can find another opportunity that would replace this type of plan, we will look into that, and we will also continue to look into organic growth and our strategy," he added.

Totoki also assured the investors that the amount of money that was expected to be used for that merger isn't going to change capital allocation or its behavior in investment. "So at the moment, we don't have any concrete plans," he said.