Reliance and Disney merge to create a Rs. Joint venture of 70,352 Crore
Reliance Industries Limited on Thursday announced the completion of a merger with the Indian operations of global media house Walt Disney. With this, Viacom 18 Media Private Limited, Reliance Industries Limited and The Walt Disney Company announced the formation of a joint venture. The joint venture was formed after approval by the National Company Law Tribuna (NCLT) Mumbai, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and other regulatory authorities. Reliance also announced that the transaction value of the joint venture was evaluated at Rs. 70,352 crores on a post-money basis.
Reliance and Disney complete merger
In a press release, Reliance announced the completion of its merger with Disney following regulatory approvals. This comes after the two entities announced a strategic partnership in February to form a joint venture. Reliance Industries has invested Rs. 11,500 crores in the joint venture and owns 16.34 percent stake in the company. Reliance’s outgoing unit Viacom 18, which is also a partner in the joint venture, has a 46.82 percent stake in the venture, while Disney holds the rest of the 36.84 percent.
The joint venture will combine Star and Colors channels on the television side, while it will bring together JioCinema and Hotstar on the digital front. The joint venture will be led by Nita Ambani, who will act as chairman of the entity.
The press release highlighted the size of the joint venture and claimed that it will have a combined turnover of approximately Rs. 26,000 crores for the fiscal year ending March 2024. Moreover, the joint venture will now operate over 100 television channels producing over 30,000 hours of content annually.
On the digital front, Reliance claimed that JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar have a total subscription base of over 50 million, but this does not take into account any overlaps when a user subscribes to both platforms. In addition, the joint venture also owns digital sports rights for cricket, football and other sporting events.
Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and CEO of Reliance Industries, said after the merger: “Our deep creative expertise and relationship with Disney, along with our unrivaled understanding of the Indian consumer, will deliver unparalleled content choices at affordable prices to Indian viewers.”
