Adani to acquire minority stake in BloombergQuint parent

Billionaire Gautam Adani-led Adani Group will acquire a minority stake in Quintillion Business Media Pvt. Ltd., the parent entity of business news platform BloombergQuint.

The proposed transaction with the Adani group is only for Quintillion Business Media, an indirect subsidiary of digital-first news publisher Quint Digital Media, and doesn't include other digital tech properties such as The Quint, Quintype Technologies, The News Minute and Youthkiawaaz.

Quint Digital Media has entered into a binding term sheet with the Adani group, the media company said in an exchange filing. The closure of the deal is subject to customary due diligence, it said.

In a separate filing, Quintillion Media today announced the restructuring of their partnership with Bloomberg Media, ending their equity joint venture in favour of a new content licence agreement.

"Bloomberg Media and Quintillion Media will no longer co-produce content but will continue to distribute Bloomberg content in India through a licence agreement," the filing said.

"We have valued our relationship with the Quintillion Media team. While we have mutually decided to shift the focus of our work together, Bloomberg Media remains committed to our presence in India and look forward to a continued relationship with Quint," says M. Scott Havens, CEO of Bloomberg Media, the consumer-facing media entity of Bloomberg L.P.

Launched in 2017, BloombergQuint was one of media entrepreneur Raghav Bahl's latest ventures after he sold Network18 Media and Investments and TV18 Broadcast to Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries in 2014.

"Even as our terms of engagement with Bloomberg Media have changed, we look forward to imparting a new energy and spirit to the new website," says Raghav Bahl, co-founder, Quintillion Media.

Quintillion Business Media's main content is based on the Indian economy, international finance, corporate law & governance and business news, among others through its platform BloombergQuint. It has a subsisting content agreement with Bloomberg Television Production Services India Pvt. Ltd.