Karan Johar has sold 50 per cent stake of Dharma Productions and Dharmatic Entertainment to Serene Productions led by Adar Poonawalla for Rs 1,000 crore, according to reports.
Karan will be the executive chairman and look at the creative side while CEO Apoorva Mehta will head the operational segment.
He has been seeking to monetise his stake but the plan was delayed over disagreement about valuation of the production company. This comes as emergence of OTT services and dip in theatre crowd have been posing challenges to Bollywood studios.
Before the deal with Poonawalla, he owned 90.7 per cent stake in Dharma Productions. His mother owned 9.24 per cent stake.
Earlier, reports said that Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries was planning to invest in Dharman Productions.
Reports also suggested that Saregama led by Sanjiv Goenka was also in talks with Karan but the deal reached a dead-end.
