Viacom18-Star India Merger Valued at Rs 70,000 Crore

India's largest merger and acquisition deal in the media and entertainment sector has finished, with the merger of Viacom18's TV and digital businesses into Star India securing all required regulatory approvals in India and abroad.

In February, Reliance Industries, Viacom18 Media and The Walt Disney Company signed an agreement to merge Viacom18 and Star India's assets to generate India's largest media and entertainment company valued at Rs 70,352 crore.

Further, Reliance Industries has funded Rs 11,500 crore into the joint venture-Star India, also known as Jio Star-to be chaired by Nita Ambani with Uday Shankar as vice chairperson, providing strategic guidance.

Reliance Industries has also bought out Paramount Global's 13.01 percent stake in Viacom18 for Rs 4,286 crore, increasing its holding to 70.49 percent, followed by 15.97percent by Bodhi Tree Systems and 13.54 percent by Network18 Media & Investments, on a fully diluted basis.

At the closing of the transactions noted above, post merger Star India will be controlled and owned 16.34 percent by Reliance Industries, 46.82 percent by Viacom18 and 36.84 percent by Disney.

The effective shareholding will be 56 percent by Reliance Industries, 37 percent by Disney and 7 percent by Bodhi Tree, due to Reliance Industries's majority shareholding in Viacom18 and Network18.

Furthermore, The joint venture will be headed by three CEOs - Kevin Vaz will lead the entertainment business across platforms; Kiran Mani will be in charge of the combined digital business; and Sanjog Gupta will lead the combined sports business.

The combine now owns two strong linear brands in TV broadcasting to Star and Colors, and digital streaming to Jio cinema and Hotstar. The joint venture operates over 100 TV channels and produces 30,000 plus hours of TV entertainment content yearly. The JioCinema and Hotstar digital platforms have a mass subscription base of over 50 million.

Star India will be one of the largest media and entertainment companies in India with formal combined revenue of around Rs 26,000 crore for the financial year ended in March 2024.

The Competition Commission of India approved the business on August 28, 2024, subject to the compliance with certain voluntary modifications provided by the parties including selling seven linear TV channels and not bundling TV and digital ad slots for cricketing rights.

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh D Ambani stated, "With the formation of this joint venture, the Indian Media and Entertainment industry is entering a transformational era."