India's Reliance buys out Paramount’s stake in Viacom18 for $521 million
Viacom18 owns dozens of TV channels and holds the digital rights to stream the wildly popular Indian Premier League cricket tournament through 2027.
Following the growth of consumption of mobile video in India, thanks to telco giants like Reliance-owned Jio, India's largest telecom company with over 91 million subscribers, the conglomerate's diversification plans beyond its core assets in oil and gas refining into consumer-facing digital businesses seems to be paying off.
Today, the Mukesh Ambani-owned conglomerate has announced that it will buy out Paramount Global’s 13 per cent stake in Viacom18, its Indian TV business for $521 million.
The deal, which will increase Reliance’s stake in Viacom18 to 70 per cent, means that Reliance has become a dominant force in Indian media with Viacom18 owning dozens of TV channels and holding the digital rights to stream the wildly popular Indian Premier League cricket tournament through 2027.
It would also lead to an increase in the consumption of other digital services in a country with over 1.4 billion people as the company's telecom subsidiary Jio continues to make its 4G and 5G data plans cheaper and ubiquitous, allowing people to stream.
The move comes just two weeks after Disney agreed to merge its Indian business with Reliance in an $8.5 billion deal.
