Billionaire Mukesh Ambani, in an effort to expand his business empire, is now venturing into the entertainment industry by nearing multi-billion dollar deal with one of the biggest production studios in the world – Walt Disney Co.
According to a recent report by Bloomberg, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries is set to buy the Indian operations of Walt Disney Co. in a massive deal. It is expected through this deal, Reliance will be able to acquire the controlling stake in Disney’s India operations.
Walt Disney Co, which is a leading American entertainment company, will be able to expand its business with Reliance’s strategic influence in the country and will continue to own minor stake in the company’s operations in India.
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Disney Star has an estimated valuation of USD 10 billion (Rs 83,138 crore), and it is expected that the deal between Reliance and Walt Disney will cost over USD 5 billion. Meanwhile, Mukesh Ambani’s firm has viewed the assets of Disney at around USD 7-8 billion (Rs 62,378 crore).
It is expected that both Reliance and Walt Disney will be making the announcement regarding the major acquisition in November. It is also likely that the media units of Reliance will be merging Disney, which means that Disney+ Hotstar may have a partnership with Reliance-owned Jio Cinema.
Earlier, Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Cinema bagged the streaming rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for USD 2.7 billion (Rs 22,450 crore). Reliance then opted to stream the massive domestic cricket tournament for free, without any subscription model.
Disney+ Hotstar has been the streaming partner of IPL and major international cricket tournaments for many years in India, but Reliance has been making a dent in the revenue of the streaming service by undercutting the prices via Jio Cinema.
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Till now, the actual valuation or the deal price has not been revealed yet, and it is expected that the disclosure will be done in the first week of November 2023.
