Disney Is Said to Sell Stake in Tata’s India TV Platform

(Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co. has struck a deal to sell its minority stake in a subscription television broadcaster to Tata Group, people familiar with the matter said, allowing the US media giant to focus on the merger of its Indian unit with billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s media arm.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• Nvidia Stock Surges as Sales Forecast Delivers on AI Hopes

• These Flight Routes Suffer the World’s Worst Turbulence

• Citi Trader Got 711 Warning Messages Before Sparking Flash Crash

• US Justice Department to Seek Breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

• Harvard Defies Faculty Vote to Block 13 Students From Graduating

The transaction values Tata Play Ltd. at about $1 billion, the people said. Tata Group took full control of the TV platform after buying the 29.8% stake from Disney, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.

The deal came as the India’s media landscape is going through a major shakeup. Disney signed a binding agreement in late February to combine its India unit with Viacom 18 Media Pvt, creating an $8.5 billion entertainment giant that will have 750 million viewers and dominate the sector in the world’s populous country.

Tata Play was incorporated in 2001 as a joint venture between Tata Group and TFCF Corp., formerly known as Twenty-First Century Fox. The company provides pay television via set-top boxes and over-the-top video streaming through its app and has a pan-India footprint of 23 million connections, according to Tata Sons’s website. Tata Play in 2022 filed confidentially for a domestic initial public offering but the listing has yet to happen.

Tata Group raised its stake in Tata Play to slightly over 70% after buying out Temasek Holding Pte’s stake earlier this year, the people said. Temasek first invested in Tata Sky, as it was known at the time, in 2007, according to its website. Tata has been considering buying Disney’s stake in Tata Play, Bloomberg News reported in March.

Representatives for Tata Group, Disney and Temasek declined to comment.

(Adds background in fifth paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

• A Hidden Variable in the Presidential Race: Fears of ‘Trump Forever’

• Google’s Moonshot Factory Falls Back Down to Earth

• How the $17 Desk Salad Won

• The Dodgers Mogul and the Indian Infrastructure Giant That Wasn’t

• The Six Choke Points That Can Upend Global Trade

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.