Zee Entertainment Enterprises facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited

Logo since 2025
Type	Public
Traded as	BSE: 505537 NSE: ZEEL
Industry	Mass media Entertainment
Founded	15 December 1991; 33 years ago (1991-12-15)
Founder	Subhash Chandra
Headquarters	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Subhash Chandra (chairman) Punit Goenka (CEO)
Products	Broadcasting, films, music, streaming, web portals
Revenue	₹2,112 crore (US$360 million) (2022)
Net income	₹-196 crore (US$−33 million) (2022)
Total assets	₹13,239 crore (US$2.3 billion) (2022)
Number of employees	3,429 (2021)
Parent	Essel Group

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL), also known as Zee Telefilms in the past, is a big Indian company that works in media. It is based in Mumbai, India. This company is involved in many areas like television, newspapers, the internet, movies, and mobile content. It runs 35 TV channels all over the world.

How Zee Entertainment Started

Zee Entertainment logo from 2017 to 2025

Zee Entertainment began its journey in 1991. It quickly grew to become a major player in the Indian media world.

Early Channels and Growth

In April 1995, Zee launched Zee Cinema. This was a special movie channel that required a subscription. It was the first of its kind in India. Over the years, Zee Cinema also became available in many other countries. These included places like Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia and Africa.

In 1999, Zee Telefilms started showing Nickelodeon cartoons. This was part of a deal with Viacom International. Later, in 2002, a new Cartoon Network block took its place.

Expanding into Films

In 2008, Zee Networks created Zee Motion Pictures and Zee Limelight. These are now known as Zee Studios. Their goal was to make, produce, share, and market movies. They made films in many Indian languages, such as Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, and Bengali.

In 2015, Zee bought Sarthak TV. This was an Odia-language TV channel. In 2017, the company also gained control of Reliance Broadcast Network.

Publishing and Theatre

Zee also has a part of a company called Diligent Media Corporation. This company publishes Indian daily newspapers and websites. It is a joint effort between Zee and the Dainik Bhaskar Group.

In 2018, Zee started Zee Theatre. This platform shows recorded theatre plays. These plays are produced both in India and other countries.

Important Partnerships

Talks About Selling Shares

In February 2019, there were reports that Essel Group, the parent company of Zee, might sell some of its shares. This was to help reduce their debt.

Top leaders from Sony Pictures also visited the founder, Subhash Chandra. This happened after he said he wanted to sell half of his shares in Zee. Later, in April 2019, the deal between Sony and Zee Entertainment Enterprises was called off.

In August 2019, Invesco Oppenheimer Fund bought an 11% share in Zee Entertainment.

Attempted Merger with Sony Pictures Networks India

On September 22, 2021, Zee announced plans to merge with Sony Pictures Networks India. Sony Pictures would own most of the new company. Zee's CEO, Punit Goenka, was set to lead it. Both companies approved the merger in December 2021. Sony would own about 51% of the company.

On August 10, 2023, the National Company Law Tribunal approved this merger. However, on January 22, 2024, Sony Pictures Networks India ended the merger plans. This was because some conditions for the merger were not met by the deadline.

Zee's TV Channels in India

Zee Entertainment owns and operates many popular TV channels across India. These channels offer a variety of content, including general entertainment, movies, music, and lifestyle shows.

Online Streaming (OTT)

Zee Entertainment also has its own online streaming platform called ZEE5. It started in February 2016 as OZEE. In February 2018, it was relaunched as ZEE5. This platform offers all the content from Zee's TV channels. It also has movies and original series. By December 2019, ZEE5 had 57 million active users each month.

Other Businesses

Zee Entertainment is involved in more than just TV channels and streaming.

Publishing and Websites

The company also owns several websites. These include:

• bgr
• Mollywood
• cricket country
• The health site
• India.com
• Sugarbox
• Zee5X

Event Management

Zee Live organizes various events. Some of their popular events include:

• Super moon
• Arth
• Edu care
• It's A Girl Thing
• Zee Theatre

Film and Music Production

Zee is also active in the film and music industries:

• Zee Studios: This is for making and distributing films.
• Zee Plex: A service where you can watch movies on demand.
• Zee Music Company: This part of the company produces and distributes music.

External links