1. At a Glance – Blink and You’ll Miss the Profit
HT Media is one of those stocks that looks cheap, feels cheap, and behaves like it knows it’s cheap. Market cap around ₹535 crore, trading at ₹23, which is 0.3× book value — the kind of valuation that makes value investors whisper “deep value” and growth investors whisper “dead value”.
Latest quarter revenue clocked ₹497 crore, up a sleepy 1.39% QoQ, while quarterly profit swung wildly — because this company treats profitability like a seasonal flu. One quarter it’s there, next quarter it’s gone.
ROCE at 2.5%, ROE basically 0%, debt at ₹801 crore, and interest coverage barely 1.79×. Yet, the plot twist?
👉 Investments worth ₹1,433 crore, which is higher than the company’s entire market cap.
So the market is basically saying: “We trust the mutual fund portfolio more than the newspaper business.”
Fair? Maybe. Brutal? Definitely. Curious? Oh yes.
2. Introduction – From Newspaper Royalty to Digital Midlife Crisis
Once upon a time, HT Media was royalty in Indian print media. Hindustan Times, Hindustan, Mint — these weren’t just newspapers, they were breakfast table institutions. If you wanted credibility, you advertised here. If you wanted influence, you printed here.
Then came the internet.
Then came Google.
Then came Facebook.
Then came everyone stopping newspaper subscriptions without telling the newspaper company.
HT Media didn’t die. But it definitely developed a limp.
Today, it is a legacy media house trying to survive in a world where news is free, attention is scarce, and advertisers are allergic to print margins. The company is juggling print, radio, and digital platforms — each with different economics, different margin structures, and different existential threats.
The result?
A company that still generates nearly ₹1,900 crore in annual revenue,
but struggles to convert it into stable profits.
So the real question isn’t “Is HT Media cheap?”
The real question is:
👉 Is HT Media a melting ice cube… or a misunderstood asset play?
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
Let’s break it down like we’re explaining it to a friend who still thinks Mint is a crypto exchange.
A. Print Media – The Aging Cash Cow
This is still the backbone.
- Hindustan Times – 2nd largest English daily (~7 lakh circulation)
- Hindustan – 3rd largest Hindi daily (~17 lakh circulation)
- Mint – Business newspaper (niche, premium, low-volume)
Print contributes ~84% of FY23 segment revenue.
Translation: If print sneezes, HT Media catches pneumonia.
Margins are thin, newsprint costs fluctuate, and ad budgets migrate online faster than journalists on Twitter.
B. Radio – Fever FM & Friends
- 22 FM stations across 15 cities
- Brands like Fever FM, Radio Nasha, Radio One
Radio contributes ~8% of revenue.
It’s stable-ish, but growth is capped. Spotify didn’t kill radio — but it definitely didn’t help.
C. Digital – The “Future” That Keeps Missing Deadlines
Includes:
- Shine.com (jobs)
- OTT Play
- VCCircle
- HT SmartCast
Digital revenue is ~8%, which is… underwhelming for a company talking digital transformation
