Breaking Uday Shankar, James Murdoch to pick up 40% stake in Viacom18

[hulk]

Uday Shankar, James Murdoch plan to pick up nearly 40% in Viacom18, Reliance to retain majority stake

The bulk of the investment is likely to be by way of primary infusion of funds. Besides the Murdoch-Shankar duo - who are coming in as strategic investor - a few financial investors are also likely to buy stakes.

m.economictimes.com

 

[iDJ]

Knew this was coming sooner or later. I was expecting Reliance themselves to buy off the remaining stake of Viacom.

 

[Vadirocks]

Ohhhh! Very Surprise Move!

Looks Like Great Days Ahead For Viacom18

 

[marvel44]

I was expecting Reliance themselves to buy off the remaining stake of Viacom.

Reliance has to divest as much as possible to have crack at IPL rights. Broadcasters owning any team could be seen in light of competition. That's how Sky/ News Corporation lost its bid to take over Manchester United in early Premier league days.

 

[RdX]

Reliance/Mukesh Ambani not Interested in Television Broadcasting Business, Already rumours that soon Mukesh Ambani Step down from Reliance industries, So in future Reliance may Sold remaining stakes too

 

[hulk]

Just so that we are clear.

Viacom18 is a 51:49 JV between Network18 & ViacomCBS. Network18 is in turn owned by Reliance.

The transaction which is being speculated is Uday & Robert will buy out 40% from ViacomCBS. And revised ownership will be 51:40:9, with Network18 continue to holding 51%. They (Network18/RIL) are not selling a single percent stake, instead the minority partner i.e. Viacom is being replaced by Murdochs. Nothing changes for Reliance, they will continue to be majority partner in Viacom18.

Uday was in charge and led Star to IPL rights in the last cycle. And he has always remain bullish on sports rights. This experience of Uday will certainly help Viacom bid for upcoming auction of sports rights (IPL & ICC).

 

[RdX]

Hope they will acquire stake in any DTH

 

[hulk]

Hope they will acquire stake in any DTH

Highly unlikely. They already have stake in Cable companies. And now they plan to launch IPTV service along with JioFiber. So investing in DTH won't make much sense for them.

 

[RdX]

Highly unlikely. They already have stake in Cable companies. And now they plan to launch IPTV service along with JioFiber. So investing in DTH won't make much sense for them.

I mean uday shankar and James Murdoch, they well know about broadcasting and DTH business in India

 

[rohan74]

Can we expect new Channels from Viacom18 like English movies channel, Regional channel, etc ?