Reliance Likely To Acquire Disney’s India Operations, Firms To Possibly Announce Deal Next Month: Report

If the deal goes through, Reliance will become the majority stakeholder in the Disney Star business, valued at $10 billion, the report said citing sources.

The companies are also looking into potentially merging some of Reliance’s media units into Disney Star.

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Reliance Industries Ltd. is looking set to finalise a cash and stock deal to buy Walt Disney Co.’s India operations, a news report claimed on Monday. Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries (RIL) is moving ahead with it’s plan to purchase Disney’s India business, the report said citing anonymous sources. 

If the deal goes through, Reliance will become the majority stakeholder in the Disney Star business, valued at $10 billion, Bloomberg reported citing sources. The report refused to disclose any details about the sources. 

The report further noted that Reliance values the assets between $7 billion to $8 billion. The massive deal could possibly be announced next month. The companies are also looking into merging some of Reliance’s media units into Disney Star, the report said citing sources. 

According to the proposal, once the cash and stock swap transactions are completed, Disney will potentially be a minority stakeholder in the Indian company. The US-based entertainment firm could also decide to hold onto the assets for a bit longer. 

The report further stated that a representative for Disney in India didn’t provide any comment when requested and a spokesperson for Reliance declined to comment on the matter. 

Notably, Ambani’s JioCinema platform secured the streaming rights to the immensely popular domestic cricket tournament, the Indian Premier League (IPL), in 2022 for $2.7 billion. This highlighted the impact of Asia’s richest man on the Indian entertainment industry after he broadcasted the IPL tournament for free this year. 

This was followed by another big win for Reliance when it bagged a multi-year deal to broadcast Warner Bros Discovery Inc.’s HBO shows in India, which were earlier streamed on Disney’s platforms in the country. 

Despite suffering from losses in subscriber numbers, Disney Star has been looking at making investments and considering other options, a Bloomberg News report said in July. The company’s India streaming platform garnered a record 43 million views on Sunday for the men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 match between India and New Zealand, Disney revealed in a statement. This number surpassed the 35 million viewers for the much anticipated India-Pakistan match earlier this month.