Indian veteran businessman Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries has decided to merge with Disney. Since then, new updates are continuously coming regarding this deal. Meanwhile, big news is coming.
Nita Ambani, wife of Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani and Reliance Chairman, may be made the chairperson of the unit formed by this merger. To know what is the complete information, read the article till the end.
Potential Leadership Transition
On Reliance Industries and Walt Disney merging their Indian media assets. Reliance Foundation chairperson and Mukesh Ambani's wife Nita Ambani can be made the chairperson of the new board. Let us tell you, at present Nita Ambani is handling the responsibility of Reliance Foundation.
A Reuters report quoted sources as saying that Reliance and Disney may soon sign the merger deal for their Indian media business. In the report, it is expected that a big announcement will be made in this regard on 28th February i.e. Wednesday (Today).
Along with this, it has been said that after the merger, Nita Ambani is likely to be made the chairperson of the new board. Nita Ambani is the founder of Reliance Foundation and currently, her entire focus is on the activities of this foundation. To focus more on this, she resigned from the board of Reliance Industries last year.
Stake Distribution and Merger Details
Apart from this, Mukesh Ambani's wife Nita is also the founder of the Mumbai-based Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Center (NMAC). NMAC works in art and culture. Regarding this deal, a Reuters report says that Mukesh Ambani's Reliance may have a 51 to 54 percent stake in the new entity formed after the merger.
Bodhi Tree, a joint venture between James Murdock and Uday Shankar, is ready to take a nine percent stake. After this deal is successful, Walt Disney will have a 40 percent stake. Earlier in the Bloomberg report, it was estimated that Reliance may have 100 percent stake in the new company.
Disney's TV and streaming business in India has seen a slowdown over the past few years. Reliance Industries has faced tough competition from Jio regarding cricket streaming. Meanwhile, many users have left the Disney platform.
On the other hand, both Reliance and Disney each have a streaming service and between them, they have 120 television channels. This deal will strengthen Reliance's grip on India's $28 billion media and entertainment business.
Reliance Industries' business spans from oil to retail. Now, billionaire Mukesh Ambani's company is preparing to become the king in media entertainment. The deal with Walt Disney is also a big step being taken in this direction.
However, no official comment has been made yet by Reliance regarding the appointment of Nita Ambani as the chairperson of the new unit. Earlier on Tuesday, Reliance had issued a clarification on the news. It was claimed that, after the alleged merger, Reliance would have a 61 percent stake in the new company.
Reliance issued a clarification in a stock exchange filing. They said that the company cannot comment on the current deal speculations. In the filing, the company said that we would like to clarify that we are unable to comment on media speculation.
The company evaluates several opportunities and any developments are reported to the stock exchange.
The report estimates that Reliance will invest $1.5 billion in this deal. Reliance Industries is also considering acquiring Tata Play Limited. Tata Play is a broadcast service provider. Disney has a minority stake in it. Tata Play is currently owned by Tata Sons.
It holds a 50.2 percent stake in Tata Play, while the remaining shares are held by Disney and Singapore investment firm Temasek. Reliance Industries and Walt Disney are now going to work together in India.
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