Mumbai: Reliance Industries and Disney have signed a binding agreement to merge Viacom18 and Star India. Media reports have noted that the deal is likely to be announced this week.
This comes in the backdrop of the failed merger attempt between Sony and Zeel. Economic Ttimes has noted that the deal was to have been announced last week. There have been over four months of negotiations. Media veteran Uday Shankar is expected to lead the JV. Disney-Star’s valuation has fallen to $4 billion due to losses from the sports business. It is worth noting that Disney-Star had reportedly bid $3 billion for the ICC rights. It had then sub licensed the TV rights to Zeel for a reported $1.5 billion. But the planned Sony Zeel merger did not happen. Zeel it has been earlier reported does not have enough cash reserves to fund the ICC TV rights deal.
Reliance is expected to own at least 61 per cent in the merged entity, with Disney holding most of the rest. The balance will be held by Bodhi Tree Systems. Paramount Global will exit. There have been reports in the US about the possibility of Paramount Global being acquired. The stake split between the partners may change, depending on how Disney’s other local assets are factored at the time of closing of the deal. Reliance may also consider acquiring Disney’s minority stake in Tata Play said Bloomberg.
In December 2023, both the companies had signed a non-binding term sheet in London.
In FY 2023 the two companies made Rs. 25,000 crores in revenue.
