Why is Gautam Adani buying media companies?

Why read this story?

Editor's note: Talk to any Adani group executive and the recurring theme of the conversation is the Ahmedabad-headquartered conglomerate’s obsession with controlling costs. As most of its businesses are leveraged and the group continues to be highly indebted, the focus at all Adani units is to pare costs to the bone and curb unwanted expenditure. In that light, it may be pertinent to ask why group chairman Gautam Adani is investing in the media business, which by any yardstick is not a fit in an empire that is largely focused on infrastructure and commodities. Rough estimates suggest that the group will end up spending about Rs 700 crore on the stake in Quint Digital Media's digital business news arm Quintillion Business Media (picked up in March 2021) and the acquisition of a majority stake in NDTV. On Wednesday, the Adani group's media arm, Adani Media Ventures, reportedly paid Rs 113 crore to gain control of a 29% stake in the news broadcaster and will have to make an open offer for another 26% as per regulatory rules.  Again, while the two brands …