Disney, Reliance working on terms of India media operations merger

Bengaluru: Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company, and Walt Disney Co are finalising details of a non-binding term sheet to merge their Indian media operations, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday citing executives involved in the deal.

Under the current terms of agreement, possibly to be announced in January, a newly formed unit of Reliance's Viacom18 is to absorb Disney's Star India through a share swap deal, the report added.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance is likely to pay cash for a 51 per cent stake in the proposed Viacom18 unit while Disney owns 49 per cent, ET said. The unit's board is expected to have equal representation from both parties, according to the newspaper.

Disney and Reliance did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

Reliance, whose broadcast venture Viacom18 runs JioCinema, was reported by Bloomberg in October to be valuing Disney's India assets, which comprises the Disney+ Hotstar streaming service and Star India, at between $7 billion and $8 billion.

At the time, Disney valued the operations at $10 billion.