Breaking Disney exploring options to sell or join venture Disney Star India Business

[Ashok Varma]

Disney may choose the Sony way for sports & ott. Throttle aggressive aquisitions and investments in sports. May give up the race to Viacom 18 and stay in the second line with minimal properties. On the other hand TV entertainment go same and they may continue studio/production buisness with careful investments.
Due to its massive size Star is not affordable for most Indian investors, except few like Reliance. Most foreign MNCs facing recession so that no one dare to spend money in India.
Bob Iger's mind changed means the pressure for quick sale of Star has reduced. That means they may not go for sacrifices in valuation. In earlier situation Reliance can negotiate more and get a majority share. Now the chances are less and Disney seems now seeks for a minority partner or demands un challengable stake value. But becoming a stake holder in 2 major rivals concurrently is complicated for Reliance. Reliance likes to have a controlling stake inorder to merge assets. So I doubt the fate of proposed deal of Disney Star with Reliance. It may get dropped due to Iger's diversion in India strategy.

STAR's main assets are in linear TV, RIL might not dare to acquire major stake @$10B valuation just for Hotstar as no growth in Linear TV due to NTO pricing restrictions.

 

[StoriesWithPK]

These high-profile exits seem like something is cooking or they don't see a future at Disney Star.

 

[Raju lal]

I think Reliance & Disney Star partnership talks called off. It is expected to announce on early November. If any deal is getting closer inside, we can see its reflections outside. Especially Sports 18 is going forward with launching new channels as planned.

 

[Aksgr]

I think Reliance & Disney Star partnership talks called off. It is expected to announce on early November. If any deal is getting closer inside, we can see its reflections outside. Especially Sports 18 is going forward with launching new channels as planned.

Wait till zee sony deal

 

[Harsha1996]

These high-profile exits seem like something is cooking or they don't see a future at Disney Star.

Few employees exit doesn’t mean there is no future for a company especially companies like disney ..
In my opinion they are shifting their focus from mass number of audience to a valued subs .. not only in India world wide they are doing this
Disney is not a cheap company until streaming service
Their franchises are rich , their parks are expensive
Disney is a celebration after launching streaming service they changed their strategy to more subs who are low value and used marvel , star wars , pixar as machines
Now they are solving their mistakes after bob iger returned




Infact , the second person previously worked on netflix india when netflix is not in a good position in india but now things are different netflix in india is going strong that doesn’t mean she is a bad employee things work differently in different times

 

[Raju lal]

Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger told employees Tuesday during an internal town hall that he is looking forward to "building again" after spending 2023 mending parts of the business that "needed attention."
This time, Iger won't rely on acquisitions. Rather, he plans to expand Disney's theme parks with a $60 billion commitment over the next 10 years, build an ESPN direct-to-consumer platform no later than 2025 and rebuild Disney's movie studio business, which Iger said has suffered from making too many films.

Disney CEO Bob Iger tells employees he wants to start building again during town hall

Disney CEO Bob Iger told employees he looks forward to building again after cuts and "fixes" defined 2023.

www.cnbc.com

Now Iger softens the strategy of selling off loss making units & TV business. Earlier they had plans to sell ESPN, now aims to develop something on it. Means this can reflect in India, Sale of Star India probably get shelved or they will not do it in a hurry.

 

[Ashok Varma]

Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger told employees Tuesday during an internal town hall that he is looking forward to "building again" after spending 2023 mending parts of the business that "needed attention."
This time, Iger won't rely on acquisitions. Rather, he plans to expand Disney's theme parks with a $60 billion commitment over the next 10 years, build an ESPN direct-to-consumer platform no later than 2025 and rebuild Disney's movie studio business, which Iger said has suffered from making too many films.

Disney CEO Bob Iger tells employees he wants to start building again during town hall

Disney CEO Bob Iger told employees he looks forward to building again after cuts and "fixes" defined 2023.

www.google.com

Now Iger softens the strategy of selling off loss making units & TV business. Earlier they had plans to sell ESPN, now aims to develop something on it. Means this can reflect in India, Sale of Star India probably get shelved or they will not do it in a hurry.

I think RIL or any one can't invest too much money for STAR network acquisition as most revenues from Linear TV business and profits might shrink in future.

 

[StoriesWithPK]

I think RIL or any one can't invest too much money for STAR network acquisition as most revenues from Linear TV business and profits might shrink in future.

Exactly.

This is the reason Disney can't find buyers even after publicly announcing multiple times that ESPN is for sale.

 

[Ashok Varma]

Again another negative/huge loss to STAR's Sports Business (Sep'23)revenue dips39%, loss increases 82%

Star's revenue from sports biz drops 39%

In the fiscal year ending September 2023, Star India, a subsidiary of Walt Disney, reported an 82% increase in operating losses for its sports business, reaching $432 million, as revealed in the annual filings of the media conglomerate. The decline in annual revenue for Star's sports business...

economictimes.indiatimes.com

 

[dino29]

Again another negative/huge loss to STAR's Sports Business (Sep'23)revenue dips39%, loss increases 82%

Star's revenue from sports biz drops 39%

In the fiscal year ending September 2023, Star India, a subsidiary of Walt Disney, reported an 82% increase in operating losses for its sports business, reaching $432 million, as revealed in the annual filings of the media conglomerate. The decline in annual revenue for Star's sports business...

economictimes.indiatimes.com

Which is why Disney is now not willing to spend exorbitant amount for acquiring cricket or other sports rights where return of investment is minimal or not good thus adding up to losses.

Also in this article the ad revenue dip for Star Sports channels is attributed to less number of IPL matches played/aired in the mentioned fiscal , lower ad rates