Reliance Jio and Disney have just announced the completion of joint venture (JV) after the approval from NCLT Mumbai, CCI, and Star India Private Limited (SIPL). The transaction values the firm at Rs 70,352 (USD 8.5 billion). With this merger, Reliance and Disney have created one of the biggest media entity in the country. Reliance has invested Rs 11,500 crore for the growth of the joint venture. Reliance owns 16.34% in the company, Viacom18 owns 46.82% stake, while Disney owns the remaining 36.84% stake. Reliance will be the controlling company for the joint venture.
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In a release, Reliance confirmed that Nita M Ambani will be the chairperson of the JV, with Uday Shankar as the Vice Chairperson providing strategic guidance. It will be run by three different CEOs. Kevin Vaz will head the entertainment organisation across platforms, Kiran Mani will take charge of the combined digital organisation, and Sanjog Gupta will look over the sports organisation.
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It is also worth noting here that Reliance Industries also bought out Paramount Global's entire stake of 13% in Viacom18 for Rs 4,286 crore. After this, Viacom18 is owned 70.49% by RIL, 13.54% by Network18 Media and Investments Ltd, and 15.97% by Bodhi Tree Systems on a fully diluted basis.
This joint venture will operate over 100 TV channels and have two of the largest OTT (over-the-top) platforms of the country including Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema.
