Adani Enterprises Invested Rs 900 crore into its Media Business, AMG Media Networks

Adani Enterprises invested Rs 900 crore in its wholly-owned media business, AMG Media Networks, in the previous fiscal year by subscribing to 90 crore 0% obligatory convertible debentures of Rs 10 apiece, according to the company's annual report.

The flagship of Gautam Adani's port-to-power business has been on an acquisition binge since acquiring AMG Media Networks in April 2022. The business has been aggressively examining assets in the media and entertainment industry, which it sees as a key development area.

Earlier this year, AMG purchased 76% of category I and 99.26% of category II shares in news agency IANS India. On January 17, IANS became a subsidiary of the company.

In its annual report, Adani stated that it is completing the fair value of IANS' assets and liabilities in accordance with Ind AS 103 accounting standards. IANS has been accounted for on a preliminary fair value basis, with a reported goodwill of Rs 7.42 crore, it said.

Quintillion Business Media, which owned and managed the business news website BQ Prime, was bought by AMG Media for Rs 100 crore in two separate transactions that took place in FY23 and FY24. BQ Prime has amalgamated with NDTV Profit.

The group, which is currently assessing Quintillion's fair values, accounted for the firm on a preliminary fair valuation basis in FY24, recording a goodwill of Rs 128.77 crore.

In FY23, the business also paid Rs 900.69 crore in cash for the controlling 64.71% interest in NDTV, which was founded by Prannoy and Radhika Roy. NDTV runs six television news networks as well as NDTV.com, a digital news site.

"Our media organization (NDTV) has increased its regional footprint and scaled digitally, with a 39% rise in worldwide digital traffic. We also invested in next-generation infrastructure, including new facilities in BKC, Mumbai, and NCR, Delhi," Adani Enterprises CMD Gautam Adani stated.

NDTV intends to develop by expanding its digital portfolio, creating digital-first content in several languages, and exploring new sectors. Last fiscal year, it introduced four news channels: three regional channels and one business channel.

Moving forward, it intends to introduce high definition (HD) feeds for NDTV 24x7, NDTV India, and NDTV Profit. It has already obtained permission from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

NDTV is also looking at the possibilities of artificial intelligence and machine learning applications in news journalism. In FY24, NDTV had a net loss of Rs 21 crore after making a profit of Rs 53 crore. Revenue fell 1.75 percent to Rs 393 crore. NDTV's staff increased to 671 in FY24 from 508 the previous year, owing to the new channel launches.