What RIL’s Rs 70K cr JV with Disney entails — 10 points

Disney Hotstar was facing growth challenges in India’s entertainment market and was struggling to salvage its India dreams.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on February 28 announced a joint venture with Walt Disney to merge their streaming and television operations in India, creating a behemoth valued at Rs 70,352 crore.

Here’s a 10-point factsheet on what the Star India-RIL’s Viacom18 unit merger entails:

1. The joint venture has been valued at Rs 70,352 crore ($8.5 billion). RIL will be injecting Rs 11,500 crore ($1.4 billion) into the venture to support the growth strategy.
2. The JV will be controlled by Reliance, as 16.34 percent would be owned directly by RIL and 46.82 percent by its arm Viacom18. The remaining 36.84 percent stake would be held by Disney.
3. Nita Ambani, the wife of RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani, will assume the role of chairperson of the merged entity. Former Walt Disney executive Uday Shankar will join as vice chairperson.
4. In the JV, Star India’s business is valued at Rs 28,000 crore ($3.1 billion), and Viacom18 is valued at Rs 32,000 crore ($4 billion).
5. Star India’s valuation is significantly lower than in 2018 when it was valued at $15 billion. The company was, in that year, sold to Disney by media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
6. The new board will have 10 members, with RIL nominating five, Disney three, and two independent directors.
7. The formation of the JV is subject to regulatory, shareholder and other customary approvals and is expected to be completed in the last quarter of 2024 or the first quarter of 2025.
8. Star India and Viacom18 hold a combined viewership of over 750 million across India and the global Indian diaspora, which, analysts say, makes their merger a milestone moment in the entertainment media industry.
9. The merger announcement came after close to four months of talks between the two sides, Forbes India reported. “We have always respected Disney as the best media group globally,” Mukesh Ambani said.
10. The announcement comes weeks after Japanese media giant Sony scrapped the merger of its India arm with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. The amalgamation would have created a $10 billion media entity.