NEW DELHI, Nov 15. /TASS/. Walt Disney Co's Indian media units have completed a merger with the core assets of Reliance Industries Ltd. to create India's largest media company worth USD 8.5 billion.
According to the publication Business Standard in the new joint venture, Reliance Industries owns 16.34% of the shares, its unit Viacom18 owns 46.82% and Disney owns the remaining 36.84%.
In February 2024, Reliance Industries Limited Ltd. and Walt Disney Co. signed an agreement to merge media businesses in India. As a result of the deal, Reliance Industries - the oil, gas and telecommunications conglomerate owned by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani - gained control of more than 60% of India's new largest media company, which has the rights to broadcast cricket, football and other sports in India .
The joint media company operates more than 100 television channels and produces more than 30,000 hours of entertainment content for television annually. Its digital platforms JioCinema and Hotstar have a combined subscriber base of more than 50 million. According to some experts, the Disney-Reliance Industries JV could harm competition in the Indian media and entertainment sector due to its monopoly on broadcasting popular sports games in the country. .
Investor interest in Disney's India business waned in 2022 after the company lost the online rights to broadcast Indian Premier League cricket matches from 2023-2027. The deal with Reliance Industries valued at 3 USD .9 billion is significantly lower than the amount Walt Disney paid to acquire Star India's Indian business for USD 16 billion in 2019.