BSE Sensex takes a plunge looses 133 points
Mumbai: It was yet another Black Friday for investors as the BSE Sensitive index (Sensex) plunged 3.12 per cent or 133.29 points to close at 4137.16 points, following profit warning from Microsoft on Thursday.

The overall sentiment remained bearish after the US stock markets lost ground on Thursday. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index shed around 119 points and 94 points, respectively, on Thursday, following the warning issued by Microsoft.

This kept the sentiment weak on the local bourses. Operators preferred to book profit instead of carrying forward their long positions. Profit-booking was seen almost across the board, in cement, automobile, telecom, media, pharmaceutical as well as fast-moving consumer goods counters, encompassing the new as well as the old economy counters. Only select counters managed to stay firm on stock-specific developments.
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Living Media group to dilute its stake
New Delhi: The Rs 300-crore Living Media India Limited, publisher of India Today is planning to take some of its group companies public through a two-stage dilution of equity. In the first phase, the group will bring in financial or strategic investors and then go public in the second phase.

Explaining the rationale behind the company’s decision to involve outside investors and go public, Mr. Aroon Purie, promoter and chief executive of Living Media proposed new businesses the group will require much more funds than what is generated by publishing business.

 In the first phase, Thomson Press, the group’s printing facility, one of the largest in the country, will see dilution of promoters equity, 15-20 per cent of which will offered to public. The company has mandated the Lazard group to help in the dilution process.

The group is planning to spin off some of the divisions into separate companies and then either rope in investors or go public. Some of these divisions will be hived off at an appropriate time as wholly owned subsidiary companies. These subsidiaries will then have the flexibility to take a strategic or private investor and such subsidiary companies can be considered for going public at an appropriate time," Purie said.

 The group’s activities are spread across various divisions such as Internet division, the magazine publishing division, the music division and an education division. Mr.Purie has already parted with 10 per cent equity stake in the television company, TV Today Network Ltd., which is slated to launch a 24-hour Hindi news and current affairs channel by the end of this year.
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