Disney hopeful of completing Star India's merger with RIL by mid-2025
In a regulatory filing, the Walt Disney Company shared that if the merger is not finalized by February 28, 2026, Star India or RIL may terminate the deal
The Walt Disney Company is expecting to close the merger of Star India with Reliance Industries in the first half of 2025.
In a regulatory filing, the company said, “The Star India transaction is expected to close in the first half of calendar year 2025, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals and government consents. If closing has not occurred by February 28, 2026, Star India or RIL may terminate the transaction.”
On February 28, 2024, Star India Private Limited (Star India), a subsidiary of the company, entered into a binding definitive agreement with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and Viacom 18 Media Private Limited (Viacom 18), which is majority owned and controlled by RIL, to form a joint venture that will combine the businesses of Viacom18 and Star India consisting of entertainment and sports pay TV and free-to-air networks, DTC services, library content and certain production businesses (the Star India Transaction).
According to regulatory filing, RIL will have an effective 56% controlling interest in the joint venture with 37% held by the company, and 7% by Bodhi Tree Systems, a third-party investment company.
The company said that “the carrying amount of Star India exceeded its fair value and we recognized a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $1.3 billion in Restructuring and impairment charges” in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations to reflect Star India at its fair value less costs to sell. The measurement of this impairment charge includes non-cash cumulative foreign currency translation losses of approximately $0.8 billion."
