Blackstone holds initial talks with Disney for stake in India arm, sources say -

Disney+ Hotstar logo is seen in this illustration taken August 22, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

MUMBAI, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Private equity firm Blackstone (BX.N) has held preliminary discussions with Walt Disney (DIS.N) to acquire a stake in the Indian arm of the entertainment firm, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

Blackstone is the latest suitor for Disney’s assets in the hyper competitive Indian market, where it has been exploring a sale or a joint venture partner for the digital and TV business.

Blackstone and Disney declined to comment.

Blackstone-backed U.S. media firm Candle Media, founded by former Disney executives, led conversations between the two parties last week, one of the sources said.

Indian newspaper The Economic Times first reported the talks earlier on Wednesday. Disney has also held talks with Indian billionaires Gautam Adani and Sun TV Network (SUTV.NS) owner Kalanithi Maran, Bloomberg News reported last week.

With subscriber exits accelerating, Disney has sought to revive the fortunes of its streaming business in India by offering free cricket on smartphones, betting that the strategy will boost advertising revenue.

It has meanwhile lost streaming rights for some key cricket tournaments to Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s broadcasting unit – including the Indian Premier League and the national cricket team’s bilateral matches.

Reporting by M Sriram in Mumbai and Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Stephen Coates

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Sriram leads Reuters’ deals coverage in India, including reporting and writing on private equity funds, IPOs, venture capital, corporate M&A and regulatory changes. His reportage includes scoops on large transactions as well as deeper analyses and insightful stories on the inner workings of companies, funds and industry trends that fly below the radar. He is a business journalist for five years by training, with a postgraduation from the Asian College of Journalism’s Bloomberg program in financial journalism. He graduated from the course’s inaugural batch. Contact: +919632913911

Aditya Kalra is the Company News Editor for Reuters in India, overseeing business coverage and reporting stories on some of the world’s biggest companies. He joined Reuters in 2008 and has in recent years written stories on challenges and strategies of a wide array of companies — from Amazon, Google and Walmart to Xiaomi, Starbucks and Reliance. He also extensively works on deeply-reported and investigative business stories.

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