Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries’ arm has picked up a controlling stake in media startup New Emerging World of Journalism (NEWJ) with an initial investment of over Rs 1 crore. “As initial tranche, RIIHL (Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Limited) has subscribed to 30,000 equity shares and 125 compulsory convertible debentures for total cash aggregating to Rs 10.3 (Rs 1.03 crore) and consequently NEWJ has become subsidiary of RIIHL and the company,” RIL said in a late regulatory filing on Tuesday.
RIHL’s latest acquisition NEWJ is an early stage technology start up incorporated in India in January 2018. The firm is mainly into production and curation of content for the emerging social and digital media ecosystem. Further, NEWJ will also be developing data enabled technology products which allow for integrated models of reporting and distribution, said RIL’s statement on the exchanges.
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“The recent exponential growth of the video content market provides a huge opportunity for innovative visual storytelling in India. The company intends to fill this demand for quality content in the social and digital media space. The venture was founded by a team of young entrepreneurs led by Shalabh Upadhyay,” RIL said.
NEWJ will harness this synergy with a data-driven and tech-focused approach in creating a distributed content model, said the release. RIL share price rallied by more than 2.6% to hit an intra-day high of Rs 1,157.75. The shares closed on the BSE at Rs 1,151.45.
