On Wednesday,15th July 2020, the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group said it has acquired a majority stake in the video-based news app Editorji Technologies Pvt Ltd, a move that marks its foray into the digital media space.
RP-Sanjiv Goenka (RPSG) Group acquired 51 percent stake through a combination of primary and secondary transactions in Editorji Technologies, initiated by former NDTV Ltd chief executive Vikram Chandra, a statement said.
However, the group did not disclose the financial details of the transaction.
"I am delighted with the transaction as this investment marks our foray into the digital news media space. I believe Editorji is a promising platform to build a significant digital media business," RPSG Group chairman Sanjiv Goenka said.
The RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, worth 6 billion USD, sees India as an untapped media market. RPSG Group had bagged the publishing rights for the Indian market for the international business publication Fortune earlier this month.
"Massive changes are taking place across the world in the digital domain - where there is a need for personalized, credible, and factual news and information.
As part of the RPSG Group, and with strong existing investors like Airtel and HT, Editorji is well-positioned to take advantage of the ongoing digital revolution," Editorji's Managing Director, Vikram Chandra said.
Launched in 2018, Editorji is a digital news player, primarily for news reporting on current affairs. It provides news in two languages-English and Hindi, and multiple video, audio, and text media formats. One of the Editorji platform's main features is its ability to create customized AI-driven playlists of news and information.
RPSG 's enterprises include power and energy, black carbon processing, retail, IT-enabled utilities, FMCG, media and entertainment, and agriculture.
“We will go vernacular. We can’t go to every regional market immediately but we will look at India 2, in a manner of speaking. We may start with Kolkata where we have a distribution network. There are 35 lakh homes and 70 lakh consumers. Even if 10% download the app, that’s 7-8 lakh people," he added.
Mr.Goenka said the issue of monetization of digital properties cannot be resolved in the short term. “Our horizon is not 3 to 6 months. It is a longer-term horizon. We want to scale the subscriber base."
Mr.Goenka, who also runs the general news magazine - Open, recently acquired rights to publish the business magazine - Fortune in India.
