Amid allegations of political funding, Republic Media clarifies it is 80% owned by Arnab Goswami

Ever since Arnab Goswami started his entrepreneurial journey with Republic TV, it has been constantly alleged that he and his companies are being funded by the BJP. The reasons were Goswami’s evident right leaning journalism and Rajeev Chandrasekhar as one of the investors in Republic TV through Asianet News Media.

Chandrashekhar resigned in April 2018 from the Board of Directors of Republic TV soon after joining BJP.

A year later, as Republic TV completed two years in May 2019, Goswami announced that he bought back Asianet News Media shares. That followed the removal of Asianet from the company’s name.

As it seemed all that was not enough, Republic Media Network on Wednesday countered “misleading reports” by making public the shareholding of its promoter.

In a statement, the network said, “It has taken note of a series of misleading reports in Indian and international media, making false and malafide claims about the exact ownership of the consolidated network. And in this context, has decided to clarify the details of its promoter shareholding.”

“At the time of the launch of the English Channel Republic TV, Arnab Goswami through his personal investment and family structures entirely controlled by him, had around 84 % of shareholder equity through his promoter entity in ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd,” the statement said.

It further reads, “After the initial capital raised to fund the launch of the English channel, Arnab Goswami raised further capital for expansion through a small equity raise, in February 2019, and since then continues to hold over 82 % of ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd. Further, his company, of which he is the sole promoter, owns 99% equity in the downstream digital entity that controls the digital assets of the network under the URL www.republicworld.com."

“All of Arnab Goswami’s three legal and corporate entities are registered in India. His present controlling equity of 82% + makes him one of the largest individual shareholders in the Indian news media landscape and the first journalist to achieve this feat,” the statement added.

“Therefore, Arnab Goswami, the Editor-in-Chief of the Republic Media Network, is the sole promoter and Chairman of the Board of the Republic Media Network (RMN). This makes the Republic Media Network aside from being solely promoted, a career journalist-owned network, which is unique in the context of Indian News Media ownership,” the statement concluded.

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