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The Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation (Sony), evolved from being an electronics brand to become a USD105 billion global media and entertainment giant in 2023. Leveraging its intellectual property across games, TV shows, films and animation segments, Sony had built its media business in the US. On the other hand, despite doing business in India for over 40 years, Sony faced formidable challenges in the media and entertainment business from rivals such as Disney Star (with a 24% share in the market) and JioCinema. Towards the end of 2021, to crack India's Bollywood (pursuing the same strategy it did to crack Hollywood in the late 1980s), Sony entered into a definitive agreement with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) to merge ZEEL with its subsidiary Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited, paving the way to create a USD10 billion entertainment conglomerate. However, in January 2024, Sony called off the merger following the stand-off over the leadership of the merged entity, the financial performance of ZEEL, a series of other problems and delays in completing the merger formalities. Analysts and market watchers raised concerns over the impact of the merger fallout on India's INR2.1 trillion media and entertainment business.