Paramount World has agreed to promote its 13 % stake in Indian media firm Viacom18 to Reliance Industries.
The sale worth is roughly $517 million, in line with a brand new securities submitting. Reliance, a multinational conglomerate, is already the bulk shareholder in Viacom18.
Present properties at Viacom18 embrace streaming service JioCinema and channels together with Colours, Comedy Central and MTV.
In late February, Disney inked a deal with Reliance Industries to type a three way partnership that brings collectively Reliance’s Viacom18 and Disney’s Star India.
Beneath the phrases of that deal, Reliance will make investments $1.4 billion into the JV, which is valued at $8.5 billion. Disney will present a content material license to the JV, and “can also contribute sure further media property to the JV, topic to regulatory and third-party approvals,” the corporate says. The JV can even have the unique proper to distribute Disney movies and productions in India.
The closing of the Paramount’s Viacom deal is topic to regulatory situations in addition to the “completion of a beforehand introduced three way partnership involving Reliance, Viacom18 and Star Disney,” in line with the submitting.
After closing, Paramount will nonetheless license its content material to Viacom18.
The deal comes as Paramount’s personal future stays unsure. In December, the studio held talks with Warner Bros. Discovery a couple of attainable merger, a supply confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. Extra lately, media mogul Byron Allen submitted a $30 billion supply, together with debt and fairness, for Paramount World.