BENGALURU, Jan 23 Reuters Zee Entertainment39;s shares plunged as much as 30 on Tuesday, set for their worst day ever, as investors piled out of the Indian broadcaster after its failed 10 billion merger with Sony39;s local unit fanned worries about its survival in a competitive industry.

At least six brokerages also said investors should sell Zee39;s stock, according to LSEG data. Zee39;s tumbles saw it lose over 800 million in market value, almost four time the entire market capitalisation of news broadcaster NDTV.

The merger could have helped Zee and Sony compete against the soontobeunited Indian media businesses of Disney and billionaire Mukesh Ambani39;s Reliance, as well as streaming giants Netflix and Amazon.

The collapse of the twoyearlong talks on Monday creates more uncertainty for Zee, which has already seen declines in profit, advertising revenues and cash reserves.

Vivekanand Subbaraman, an analyst at brokerage Ambit Capital, said Zee39;s troubles with scaling up the business could see it lose its No.2 position.

The challenge that Zee is facing is that the TV business has been declining at a fairly fast pace its fiscal 2023 ad revenue is still 22 below 2019 levels.

Zee39;s profit slid 68 in the first six months of the current fiscal year, while its cash reserves dropped 40.

The stock is now down 35 since the merger was announced in September 2021 and has tumbled nearly 40 so far in 2024, with a chunk of those losses coming earlier this month on…