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Reliance and Disney completed their India media-business merger on 14 November 2024, creating a Reliance-controlled joint venture. The announced ₹70,352 crore (about US$8.5 billion) valuation was post-money and excluded synergies; it was not the amount Reliance paid to acquire Disney’s India businesses.
What the $8.5 billion valuation means
When Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and The Walt Disney Company announced the deal on 28 February 2024, they put the combined venture’s value at ₹70,352 crore, or about US$8.5 billion. The companies described this as a post-money valuation excluding synergies. It is therefore a valuation of the venture after the transaction, not a purchase price paid by Reliance for Disney’s assets. The announcement and closing release give the companies’ stated terms.
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At closing, Reliance invested ₹11,500 crore (about US$1.4 billion) in growth capital. RIL also reported approximately ₹26,000 crore (about US$3.1 billion) in pro forma combined revenue for the fiscal year ended March 2024. These are company-reported figures, not independent assessments of the venture’s future performance.
Which businesses and brands came together?
The announced combination covered television, digital entertainment and sports businesses from Viacom18 and Star India. The companies named Colors, Star Plus, Star Gold, Star Sports, Sports18, JioCinema and Hotstar as examples. The announcement also said the joint venture would receive exclusive rights to distribute Disney films and productions in India, with a license to more than 30,000 Disney content assets. That description does not establish that every named brand or asset had an identical legal or operational transfer.
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At completion, Reliance described the transaction as Viacom18’s media and JioCinema businesses merging into Star India Private Limited. The company reported a combined portfolio of more than 100 TV channels and over 30,000 hours of TV entertainment produced annually. It also reported more than 50 million aggregate subscriptions across JioCinema and Hotstar at closing, alongside sports rights including cricket and football. These are Reliance’s closing figures, rather than independently audited comparisons.
When did the merger become effective?
- 28 February 2024: Reliance and Disney announced an agreement, subject to regulatory and other approvals. The deal was not yet a completed merger. Reliance’s announcement set out the proposed transaction.
- 28 August 2024: The Competition Commission of India announced approval subject to the parties complying with voluntary modifications. The government release described the approval condition.
- 14 November 2024: Reliance announced completion, saying the Mumbai National Company Law Tribunal, the CCI and other regulatory authorities had approved the transaction and it had become effective. The completion release records the effective date.
Who owns and controls the joint venture?
At closing, the ownership was 16.34% for RIL directly, 46.82% for Viacom18 and 36.84% for Disney. The closing announcement says RIL controlled the venture. RIL’s direct 16.34% stake should not be confused with the Reliance group’s broader interest: Viacom18 held a separate 46.82% stake. The completion announcement named Nita M. Ambani chairperson and Uday Shankar vice chairperson.
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What happened to JioCinema and Hotstar afterward?
Later developments should be distinguished from the original deal announcement. Reliance’s FY2024–25 annual report says the merger created JioStar, bringing together businesses and brands including Colors, Star Plus, Star Gold and Star Sports. It also reports that JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar were integrated into a unified streaming service, JioHotstar. The February 2024 announcement named JioCinema and Hotstar; it did not describe JioHotstar as the resulting unified service.
Later figures reported by Reliance
In its FY2024–25 annual report, Reliance cited the EY-FICCI M&E Report, March 2025, for an estimate that India’s media and entertainment sector grew 3.3% year over year in 2024 to ₹2.5 trillion. The same Reliance report said JioHotstar reached 652 million during IPL 2025 and recorded peak concurrency of 61.2 million viewers during the Champions Trophy 2025. These platform figures are Reliance-reported metrics, not independently verified audience measurements.
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