Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance to acquire over 50% stake in Disney India: Report
Reliance and Disney are in talks to merge their India media businesses, with Reliance set to pick up a 51%-54% stake valuing the US giant’s domestic business at $3.5 billion. Bodhi Tree, a joint venture between James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, may also take a stake of around 9% in the merged entity, Reuters news agency reported. Bodhi Tree is one of the shareholders in RIL’s broadcast division. The two companies aim to sign a binding deal in February.
Mint could not independently verify the report.
Reliance and Disney, which each have a major streaming service as well as 120 television channels between them, have been in talks for weeks to create an entertainment superpower in India.
How Reliance Might Devalue ‘Disney+Hotstar’ Post Zee-Sony Fallout | Explains
Under the deal, Reliance Industries broadcast division Viacom 18 will merge with Disney India businesses.
Meanwhile, Disney’s India assets have halved to $4.5 billion, less than the $10 billion the US entertainment giant has previously pursued, Bloomberg reported this week.
The dip in the valuation of Disney’s India unit is party attributed to Zee Entertainment backing out from a $1.4 billion deal.
Why the Disney Star deal with Reliance may also take a hit amid Zee-Sony fallout
Now Disney Star is reportedly mulling legal actions against Zee for calling off a $1.4 billion sub-licensing agreement for TV broadcast of international cricket matches in India.
If the rescinded agreement contained an arbitration clause, then Disney Star would have to resort to arbitration proceedings for the resolution of the dispute and if the agreement is short of the arbitration clause, then Disney could initiate legal proceedings to sue Zee for damages.
Zee’s split with Sony leaves it gasping
ZEEL, which has already missed the first installment of around USD 200 million, has informed Disney Star that it does not intend to move ahead with this.
On August 30, 2022, ZEEL announced entering a strategic licensing agreement with Disney Star for television broadcasting rights of the ICC Men’s and Under-19 global events for a period of four years.
Disney Star will continue to exclusively stream all ICC tournaments through its digital platform Disney Hotstar, a joint statement said.
This was done with the in-principle approval from the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Disney Star bagged the broadcast rights of all ICC events for four years from 2024 to 2027 for the Indian market from the sport’s global governing body.
As per the agreement, ZEEL was supposed to have exclusive television rights for ICC men’s events, including the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be played in 2024 and 2026, ICC Men’s Champions Trophy (2025), and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup (2027), along with key ICC U-19 events, it said.
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Published: 01 Feb 2024, 11:00 AM IST
Ganesh
http://ganesh@finplay.inFinance enthusiast, Mutual fund expert.