A report in The Indian Express, earlier in the morning came as a huge update, which suggested Ajay Singh of Spicejet buying a majority stake in the news channel and looking to take over as the next chief. However, hours after, another report in The Hindu ridiculed all the rumours. The report by The Hindi claims on behalf of senior NDTV officials that the news circulating on the internet does not have any base to it.
The report in The Indian Express had even given financials of the reported deal and stated that Ajay Singh had bought the stake in NDTV for around 600 crores.
The rumour also got attention because of the fact that Ajay Singh has a political connection and history with BJP. He was part of the advertising committee for BJP in 2014 general elections and coined the most popular phrase, Abki Baar, Modi Sarkaar.
The latest reports are floating at a time when NDTV Founders, including Prannoy Roy, Radhika Roy and RRPR Holding Pvt Ltd have been under the radar of CBI in a case related to money laundering through a shell company. The amount in question comes to be around INR 404 crores.
Until June, the holding of promoters in NDTV was 61.45%. The remaining stake was owned by the public. The report in Indian Express suggests that Ajay Singh will hold 40% of the company post the acquisition and the promoters will be left with around 20% of the stake. The report also suggested that the Spicejet head will also pick up INR 400 crores worth of debt.
NDTV has been regarded as an anti-BJP channel off late. While the news started to float in the morning, a number of users on social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, started to term it as a move by BJP to silence the press speaking against it. However, with the latest report by The Hindu, the table seems to have turned yet again.
We will keep you updated with the updates we get around this news. Stay tuned.