The Walt Disney Company’s Indian media business and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), which owns Viacom18 Media Private Ltd, received regulatory approval last month to merge their Indian assets, forming an $8.5 billion joint venture.
The merger creates India’s largest media and entertainment company, featuring more than 100 television channels and producing more than 30,000 hours of television content annually. The new company will dominate broadcasting rights for sports in the country, including cricket and football. The Indian Premier League, valued at $16.4 billion in 2024, reaches over 1 billion viewers and extends beyond the Indian subcontinent, demonstrating the potential of advertising and media auction rights in sporting events. The deal enhances Reliance’s position as the major shareholder in India’s $28 billion media and entertainment sector.
Owned by Mukesh D. Ambani, the wealthiest person in Asia, Reliance is India’s largest private sector company, with diversified interests in petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecommunications, retail, media, and financial services. In 2024, it was ranked 86th on the Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest companies.
Following the merger, the new joint venture’s shareholders will be Reliance (16.34%), Viacom18 (46.82%), and Disney (36.84%). Reliance has a 70.49% majority stake in Viacom18, and other shareholders include Network18 Media & Investments Ltd (13.54%), owned by Reliance and Bodhi Tree Systems (15.97%), a platform of James Murdoch’s Lupa systems and media executive Uday Shankar. Reliance thus will own 63% of the joint venture. Nita Ambani, Mukesh’s wife, will be chairperson, with Shankar as vice chair.
The new company has reorganized its Indian media assets into three divisions, each with its own CEO. Kiran Mani, a former Google executive, will head the digital organization; Kevin Vaz, head of Viacom 18 Media, will oversee the entertainment division; and Sanjay Gupta will run sports. The newly formed divisions include entertainment, which encompasses Reliance’s Colors television channels and Disney’s Star; digital, home-to-online streaming platforms JioCinema and Hotstar; and sports.
