Journalist Nidhi Razdan Resigns from NDTV
New Delhi: Journalist and anchor Nidhi Razdan has quit NDTV, according to Newslaundry, in the latest in a series of resignations at the company after it was taken over by the Adani group. Razdan had worked at NDTV 24x7 for over two decades and in a tweet said that her journey with the channel has been a "roller coaster ride but you have to know when to get off".
She had briefly left the channel in 2021, and returned in February 2022 to anchor the primetime show 'No Spin'.
After more than 22 years, it is time to move on from NDTV. It has been a wonderful, roller coaster ride but you have to know when to get off. The next couple of weeks are my last. Thank you for the love and support all these years.
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) January 31, 2023
Earlier on January 28, Sreenivasan Jain announced his resignation from NDTV. He has been associated with the news channel since 1995.
Journalist Ravish Kumar and NDTV Group president Suparna Singh are among others who quit. NDTV founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy also left the company’s board in December 2022.
The Wire has learned that there is some disquiet within the channel at the manner in which the recent Hindenberg-Adani story has been covered. The news desk was told to keep off the story for the first three days until it became impossible not to take note of the hammering that Adani group shares were receiving at the stock market. Even then, NDTV’s new editorial management ensured that none of the channel’s popular primetime programmes chose the Hindenburg-Adani issue as a debate topic.
On December 30, the Adani group said it has acquired a 27.26% equity stake in NDTV from the Roys, founders of the news broadcaster. A week before that, the NDTV board also appointed two nominee directors of the richest Asian Gautam Adani-run conglomerate on the board – Sanjay Pugalia and Senthil Sinniah Chengalvarayan.
Adani Group acquired a 29.18% stake in NDTV by buying a company backed by the television network’s founders, Radhika Roy and Prannoy Roy. Thereafter, it made an open offer to acquire an additional 26% from public shareholders.
That open offer found investors willing to sell over 53 lakh shares of NDTV despite the deep discount on the stock’s trading price. The stock tendered translated to an 8.26% shareholding, taking the total interest of Adani Group in NDTV to 37.44% – higher than the 32.26% holding of founders.
RRPR Holding Pvt Ltd is the firm that Adani Group indirectly acquired in August, triggering an open offer to buy a further 26% of the media company.
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