New Delhi: According to the report by new indianexpress, NDTV is set to change hands from the present owners comprising Roys to the co-founder and owner of SpiceJet, Ajay Singh, who was part of the BJP’s 2014 poll campaign. It seems he has picked up majority holding in the news channel.
The report says that Sources from SpiceJet’s Ajay Singh has confirmed that the deal has been finalised and Ajay Singh will soon be taking control of NDTV along with editorial rights.
Moreover, Ajay Singh will have controlling stake in NDTV of around 40 per cent and the promoters Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy will hold around 20 per cent in the company.
The founders of NDTV – Prannoy Roy, Radhika Roy and promoter firm RRPR Holding Pvt Ltd is facing a CBI probe for allegedly concealing a share transaction and on 5th June 2017, the CBI conducted searches at the residences of the Roys.
As per the deal, Ajay Singh will also be picking up NDTV’s debt of over Rs 400 crore and the total deal is valued at around Rs 600 crore. A part of the cash (up to Rs 100 crore) will also go to the Roys.
However, both NDTV and SpiceJet official did not confirm the development. It may be noted that Ajay Singh acquired SpiceJet in January 2015 and has turned it around in to a profitable venture. Singh also served as OSD to Pramod Mahajan during the first NDA government. It was in this period that he played an active role in the launch of DD Sports and was also behind the planning of DD News.
Singh played a role in 2014 LokSabha campaign of the BJP as part of the core advertising/campaigning team and coined BJP’s 2014 campaign slogan “abkibaarModiSarkar,”
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In 1996, he was asked to serve on the Board of Delhi Transport Corporation and prepare a plan to revamp DTC. He is known to have played a key role in its turnaround and in the two and a half years that he spent at DTC, its fleet rose from 300 to about 6000. He also turned around the grounded ModiLuft and renamed and launched it as SpiceJet
An alumnus of Delhi’s St. Columba’s school, Singh is a graduate of IIT Delhi, an MBA from Cornell University and a Bachelor’s degree in Law (LLB) from Law Faculty, University of Delhi.
