The Gautam Adani-founded Adani Enterprises Ltd., through a wholly-owned subsidiary, has taken a 49 percent stake in Quintillion Business Media Limited (QBML), which is part of Quintillion Media Limited.

Making the announcement of the shareholding percentage in a regulatory filing late last week, Adani Enterprises said, “AMG Media Networks Limited (AMG Media), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company has signed (i) Shareholders’ Agreement with Quintillion Media Limited and Quintillion Business Media Limited (QBML) and (ii) Share Purchase Agreement with QML, QBML and Quint Digital Media Limited dated 13th May, 2022 in connection with its proposed acquisition of 49% stake in QBML.”

The Raghav Bahl-founded Quintillion Business Media Limited owns and operates an exclusive business and financial news digital media platform, www.bqprime.com, which was earlier known as www.bloombergquint.com. It was supposed to be a joint venture with Bloomberg, which also wanted to make a re-entry into the TV business after its contract with Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance ended a few years back.

This stake in QBML would pitch the Adanis in direct competition with another Indian billionaire, Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani whose media empire too consists of a business news portal, moneycontrol.com.

Incidentally, moneycontrol.com is part of Network18 Group — also founded by Bahl and associates — that the Ambanis bought over in 2014 as the Bahls could not service the loans taken from Reliance Industries. So, in a way, Bahl is the common link between the Ambanis and Adanis media businesses.

Recently, Bloomberg reported that the Adanis were scouting for media properties for a major foray into the sector.

In March, Adani Media Ventures Ltd. had announced intentions to buy a stake in Quintillion Business Media Pvt., according to a statement. Quintillion was an Indian partner of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.

While approaching prospective targets, the Adanis have offered to remain a financial investor and refrain from interfering in the editorial decisions of the organizations, two of the people familiar with developments told Bloomberg as per the report.

The conglomerate hired Sanjay Pugalia last year to head Adani Media Ventures as it sharpened the focus on the sector. Pugalia is a long-standing associate of Bahl.

Scaling up the business will give Adani a meaningful presence in an industry where Ambani has already made his mark through his Network18 Media & Investments Ltd. The Adani conglomerate is interested in media assets with the right fit, no matter the size, one person said, the Bloomberg report said.

Adani’s foray into the nation’s media space also heats up the race for a market of almost 1.4 billion people, which is already crowded with domestic and global giants ranging from the Times of India group, Sony Group Corp. to Netflix Inc. and James Murdoch.