For decades, the wealthy Jains have worked as a family to run the Times Group, one of India’s oldest and largest media enterprises. Now, brothers Samir and Vineet Jain, the owner-managers of the Times Group, which publishes The Times of India (TOI) — one of the biggest-circulation English-language papers in the world — are looking for a way to divide their operations.
The split comes after the death in 2021 of their mother, Indu, who chaired the group until she died, aged 84. Details of the bust-up are fragmentary: the group, which also publishes the salmon-pink Economic Times and has interests in radio, TV, advertising and online media, has declined requests for interviews.
However, media analysts and people who know the Jains, most of whom did not want to be quoted, corroborated recent Indian media reports of active discussions on a split.
In recent days, some Indian media have reported that the brothers had reached an understanding on how to divide up the group’s assets….