Adar Poonawalla, the chief of Serene Production, is all set to buy a 50% stake in Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions and Dharmatic Entertainment for ₹1,000 crore, as per a company press release.

What Happened: Johar will continue to hold the remaining 50% stake in Dharma and retain his position as the company’s executive chairman. Apoorva Mehta will continue to serve as the CEO.

The strategic partnership comes amid the rapid expansion of India’s entertainment industry, which is being propelled by increased digital penetration and a diverse audience that is constantly on the lookout for quality content across multiple platforms.

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Johar previously owned 90.7% of Dharma, with the remaining 9.24% held by his mother, Hiroo Johar.

Earlier, reports said that Karan Johar was looking to sell some of his stake in Dharma Productions to Reliance Industries.

The deal comes at a time when Dharma Productions’ new film Jigra, starring Alia Bhatt has netted only ₹27 crore so far at the box office. The film was also accused of inflated collection numbers and script mishandling.

In FY23, Dharma Productions’ revenue went up to ₹1,040 crore from ₹276 crore the previous year. However, its net profit fell 59% to ₹11 crore due to expenses ballooning four and half times to ₹1,028 crore.

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