Zee's tagline "Extraordinary Together" doesn't seem to apply when it comes to its largest shareholder Invesco. Both the companies are embroiled in a hot mess that has escalated in the last two days. In a strongly worded letter, Invesco on October 11 lashed out at the company's promoters, board of directors, and management and reiterated its demands to hold a shareholders meeting to vote on the removal of the CEO Punit Goenka from the board as well as for the appointment of six new independent members to the board. Last evening, Zee shared a note from CEO Goenka accusing Invesco of pitching a merger deal with a "large Indian company" in February that would have harmed the company's shareholders and benefited the promoter family. The note also claims double standards as Invesco repeatedly acknowledged Goenka's "reputation, experience, and capability as a profession" and as recently as September 2020 voted to reappoint him as MD and CEO. Invesco this morning revealed that the large company was Reliance and that the deal was negotiated between Zee and the promoter family. Here's a complete rundown of the debacle at hand: Why does this matter? These developments come at a time when Zee is looking at a merger with Sony. Zee's finances have struggled under the dual blow of declining viewer revenues and cut marketing spend from advertisers and the merger was expected to offer a lifeline as well as create a force to reckon with in the world of entertainment. In addition to benefiting Zee's traditional broadcasting services,…
