Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries on Thursday denied reports of selling its news media business to Times Group. (Representational) Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries on Thursday denied reports of selling its news media business to Times Group. (Representational)

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani is in talks to sell his news media assets to India’s Times Group, as Asia’s richest man plans to unload a business that’s been losing money, people familiar with the matter said.

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries on Thursday denied reports of selling its news media business to Times Group. “Reliance Industries firmly denies (the) story. The story is baseless and false,” a company spokesperson said.

READ | Reliance calls reports false, baseless

Bennett Coleman & Co., the publisher of the Times of India, is looking to hire advisers for due diligence on the news properties of Ambani’s Network18 Media & Investments Ltd., the people said, asking not to be named as the discussions are private. Ambani is considering various options, ranging from an outright exit to a stake sale, one of the people said.

Talks are at an early stage and may not result in a deal, the people said, adding more suitors may emerge. A representative for Bennett Coleman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comments, while a spokesman for Reliance Industries Ltd. said the parent of Network18 evaluates opportunities on an ongoing basis and declined to comment further. The company later said the story is “baseless and false,” without elaborating.

The tycoon’s plan to dispose of his news assets comes as he pursues talks to sell a stake in Network18’s entertainment division that encompasses various movie, music and comedy channels to Sony Corp. Bloomberg News reported last week that the Japanese giant is currently examining the books of the Indian media company and is considering several potential deal structures. Network18 reported a group loss of 1.78 billion rupees ($25 million) in the year ended March, while its net debt stood at 28 billion rupees, according to the company.

Shares of Network18 jumped as much as 10% on Thursday before paring the gains to 3.3% as of 3 p.m. in Mumbai.

Ambani’s oil-to-petrochemicals conglomerate is in the midst of streamlining its operations and pivoting more toward relatively new ventures such as retail and technology for revenue. Last month, Reliance Industries unveiled a digital-services holding company that would eventually provide services from e-commerce to entertainment on a telecommunications network built over the last few years with about $50 billion in investment.

Network18, acquired by Reliance Industries in 2014, owns and operates 56 local channels spanning news and entertainment. News properties include MoneyControl, News18, CNBCTV18.com, CricketNext and Firstpost. Shares of its subsidiary TV18 Broadcast Ltd., which houses news channels, soared as much as 6.7% in Mumbai before paring some of those gains.

Reliance Industries shares reached a record high on Thursday, giving the firm a market value of about $140 billion.

Unlisted Bennett Coleman, also known as the Times Group, owns television channels, including Times Now and ET Now. Besides the Times of India, it also publishes the Economic Times, a pink financial daily.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest Business News, download Indian Express App.