Murdoch reboots internet play in India

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MUMBAI (TIP): Media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has charted a fresh investment plan to tap into India‘s fast-growing consumer internet story more than a decade after he took bets on domestic digital properties like Indya.com and Baazee. The media giant is rebooting tactical investments as part of a strategy to aggressively expand the group’s digital play in markets like India, sources aware of the development said.

Murdoch’s comeback coincides with euphoric investor sentiment around India’s recent billion-dollar internet and digital startups. News Corp’s senior vice-president for strategy Raju Narisetti is leading the media giant’s investment interests in India, a source cited earlier who did not want to be named said. The New York-based media giant, which split its publishing and broadcasting units last year, has been making “targeted investments” into digital assets in south-east Asian markets recently.

“Because it is widely known that News Corp has no debt and started its new journey with $2-billion plus in cash, I am constantly and relentlessly pitched by investment bankers on potential deals. If it makes strategic sense, I tend to take a closer look and from that point of view, most of Asia, including India, will always be on the radar,” News Corp’s Narisetti said.

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