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Indian billionaire and businessman Mukesh Ambani with his wife and founding chairman of the Reliance Foundation Nita M. Ambani.
New Delhi/London CNN —
Disney is teaming up with Asia's richest man to create a new media giant in India that it says will reach a domestic audience of more than 750 million people.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries and Disney have merged their digital streaming platforms and 100 TV channels in the country in a joint venture worth around $8.5 billion, the companies said in a statement on Wednesday.
There has been talk of a possible deal for some time as Disney struggles to capitalize on the opportunity presented by a country of more than a billion people where English is widely spoken. The company is also struggling with a variety of problems at home.
Disney made a big push into the country in 2019 when it acquired most of 21st Century Fox, including its massive Star India network.
Reliance will own just over 63% of the new company, primarily through its subsidiary Viacom18, with Disney (DIS) hold the rest.
“This is a groundbreaking agreement that ushers in a new era in the Indian entertainment industry,” said Mukesh Ambani, whose sprawling business empire is worth more than $236 billion and spans retail, technology and renewable energy.
Ambani's wife Nita M. Ambani will chair the joint venture, which combines Disney's “acclaimed films and shows” with Viacom18's “acclaimed productions and sports properties,” the companies said, adding that the company will also serve the Indian diaspora across India would serve the world.
“India is the most populous market in the world and we are excited about the opportunities this joint venture presents to create long-term value for the company,” said Bob Iger, CEO of Disney.
Disney faced numerous challenges in India, which has a dynamic media and entertainment sector.
The House of Mouse was hit particularly hard in 2022 after it lost the digital rights to stream the hugely popular Indian Premier League cricket matches to Ambani's conglomerate.
Disney's streaming app in India, Hotstar, has since lost millions of subscribers and suffered another setback last March when it stopped streaming HBO content.
Weeks later, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), the parent company of HBO and CNN, moved its content to Ambani's JioCinema, taking Indian viewers with it from hit series like “Game of Thrones” and “Succession.”
In its most recent fiscal year, which ended in September, Disney averaged just 66 cents in revenue per Hotstar subscriber, according to its annual report – down from 88 cents in 2022 and compared to $5.93 for a non-U.S Subscribers to Disney+, its flagship streaming service, according to its annual report.
The number of Hotstar subscribers fell 39% to 37.6 million in the last fiscal.
On an earnings call in November, Iger said Disney's TV business in India was doing well, but other parts of its business in the country were struggling. “We have the opportunity to strengthen our position,” he said at the time. “We want to stay in the (Indian) market.”
This story has been updated with additional information.