Zee CEO Punit Goenka has lost his Board seat after he failed to obtain majority shareholder votes to retain his directorship. He received 49.5% votes, falling short of the required majority. This ended his 19-year tenure as a member of the Zee Board.
According to regulatory filings, 50.5% of Zee’s shareholders cast their votes opposing his reappointment. The voting process, which combined postal ballots and electronic voting, concluded on November 28, and covered 40% of Zee’s shares.
Non-public institutions significantly impacted the outcome as 88.4% of those votes opposed his reappointment. Punit Goenka and his family have only a 4% stake in Zee, the company which his father, Subhash Chandra, established in 1992. Although Punit recently stepped down from the managing director’s post, he had intended to continue as CEO along with his Board position subject to shareholder approval at the company’s annual general meeting on November 28.