Raghav Bahl | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | St. Stephen's College FMS, Delhi |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Founder & former MD, Network18 Group Founder, Quintillion Media |
| Spouse | Ritu Kapur |
| Children | Tara Bahl, Vidur Bahl |
Raghav Bahl is an Indian businessman, a serial entrepreneur, and an investor best known for his past ownership of several television channels, including TV18 India. He was the Founding/Controlling shareholder & managing director of Network18 Group, a media group that he started in 1993 and grew into one of the largest collection of media properties in India.[1]
At its peak, the group controlled by Raghav Bahl included media and internet-based media outlets such as in.com, IBNLive.com, Moneycontrol.com, Firstpost.com, Cricketnext, Homeshop18, bookmyshow.com, Forbes India, TV channels such as Colors and some in partnership with international media groups such as NBC TV18, CNN-IBN, IBN7, MTV, and CNBC Awaaz.[1][2]
By late 2011, according to a LiveMint article, Bahl's media group had a large debt, was running in loss and banks were unwilling to lend the group additional capital.[1] Bahl's group sought capital from the Reliance Industries Ltd in 2012, and two years later Reliance took over the media empire and Bahl left the Network18 group on 29 May 2014.[1][2][3]
After departing from the Network18 group, Bahl co-founded Quintillion Media Pvt Ltd with his wife Ritu Kapur. Currently, Bahl is the promoter of Quint Digital Media Limited[4] and his media group controls Thequint.com.[5][6] Bahl entered a joint venture agreement with Bloomberg L.P. to launch BloombergQuint in 2016,[7] the equity partnership ended in 2022.[8]
- ^ a b c d Inside the Network18 takeover, Ashish Mishra, LiveMint (The Hindustan Times Gp), (25 Jun 2014)
- ^ a b Reliance Takes Over Network18: Is This The Death Of Media Independence?, Forbes, Megha Bahree (30 May 2019)
- ^ "My dream to own a newspaper is dead". The Financial Express. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
- ^ Statement showing shareholding pattern of the Promoter and Promoter Group, BSE.
- ^ [email protected], Global Initiative. "Ritu Kapur | Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism". University of Oxford. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
- ^ "The Newsmaker – Ritu Kapur". Outlook Business. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
- ^ Choudhary, Vidhi (26 January 2016). "Bloomberg said to be in talks with Raghav Bahl for joint venture". Livemint. HT Media Ltd. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
- ^ Bloomberg ends JV with Quint; to have new content licence agreement, Business Today.