Disney reaches pact to sell 60% of its India business to Viacom18, as per reports

The Walt Disney Company has reached a pact to sell 60% of its India business to Viacom18, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal.

According to the report, the pact values the India business at $3.9 billion and the transaction is likely to close this month. In rupee terms, this comes up to ₹33,000 crore.

Media reports had earlier suggested that both Reliance Industries and Disney had signed a non-binding term sheet last month to merge their India operations.

Earlier, reports had also pegged the deal value at $10 billion. The dip in valuation is partly attributed to a write-off of revenue from the sale of cricket TV rights by Disney to Zee.

Disney+ Hotstar has seen a consistent drop in subscribers over the last four quarters. From 61.3 million subscribers in September 2022, the number of subscribers in September 2023 fell to 37.6 million.

The losses in subscribers were due to no IPL and no HBO content along with stiff competition from Jio Cinema.