15 Feb 2024
If all goes well, it will be the first deal between Tata Group and Reliance Industries. It will allow Reliance to offer all JioCinema content on Tata Play.
Reliance Industries plans to buy Walt Disney’s 29.8% stake in the subscription-based television and video streaming platform Tata Play. Besides Walt Disney, Tata Sons owns 50.2% of Tata Play, and Temasek, a Singapore-based fund, owns 20%.
The Mukesh Ambani-led group is also about to merge its India business with Walt Disney, with the deal expected to be finalised this month. Reliance will acquire a 51% stake in the merged entity, and Walt Disney will hold around 40%. The remaining 9% will be owned by Bodhi Tree, a joint venture between James Murdoch and former Disney top boss Uday Shankar. Walt Disney plans to sell its TV content and OTT to Reliance for around $3.9 billion. Its valuation dipped after Zee Entertainment withdrew from a cricket rights deal worth $1.4 billion.
With this, Reliance aims to strengthen its share in the $28 billion Indian media industry and TV distribution market.