Reliance Disney Merger: CCI Clears Deal; Check Mukesh & Nita Ambani’s Role In New Conglomerate

Mukesh Ambani & Nita Ambani will play an important role after Reliance Disney Merger is finalized, check their stakes in new company.

The Competition Commission of India on Wednesday approved the merger of media assets of Reliance Industries and The Walt Disney Co to create the country’s largest media empire worth over Rs 70,000 crore.

The deal was going through a scrutiny by the anti-trust regulator and the approval came after the parties proposed certain modifications to the original transaction structure.

Mukesh Ambani, Nita Ambani & Walt Disney Holdings

Under the deal, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and its affiliates will hold 63.16 per cent of the combined entity that will house two streaming services and 120 television channels.

Reliance Industries has also agreed to invest close to Rs 11,500 crore into the joint venture to give it the muscle to fight rivals like Japan’s Sony and Netflix.

Nita Ambani, wife of billionaire and RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani, will head the joint venture, while Uday Shankar will be the Vice Chairperson. Shankar is a former top Disney executive.

Walt Disney will hold the remaining 36.84 per cent stake in the combined entity, which will also be India’s largest media house.

The deal will also require approval of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

Mukesh Ambani Led Reliance Current Stake In Media

Media ventures of Reliance are currently housed in Network 18, which owns TV18 news channels as well as a plethora of entertainment (under the ‘Colors’ brand) and sports channels. NW18 also has stakes in moneycontrol.com, and bookmyshow and publishes magazines.

Its subsidiary NW18 owns the news channels CNBC/CNNNews.

Reliance separately owns a movie production arm — JioStudios, and majority stakes in two listed cable distribution companies Den and Hathway.

Disney + Hotstar was launched in India in 2020 post the acquisition of the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox at a valuation of USD 71.3 billion, thereby taking over the operations of Star India and Hotstar. It housed entertainment and cinema channels, such as StarPlus and StarGold as well as sports channels like Star Sports.

While Disney + Hotstar rapidly increased their subscriber base initially with the streaming rights of cricket matches (IPL, World Cup), it lost the bid for the digital streaming rights in the 2023-27 cycle, which was won by Reliance-backed Viacom18 for USD 720 billion, 12.92 per cent higher than what Star India had paid on an average per match value.

(With Inputs From PTI)