Blackstone holds initial talks with Disney for a stake in India’s arm. According to two persons familiar with the situation, private equity firm Blackstone (BX.N) and Walt Disney (DIS.N) have had early talks about Blackstone purchasing a stake in the Indian division of the entertainment company.
In the very competitive Indian market, where Disney has been looking for a sale or a joint venture partner for the digital and TV business, Blackstone is the most recent bidder for the company’s assets.
Disney and Blackstone declined to comment. Conversations between the two sides last week were conducted by Candle Media, a U.S. media company financed by Blackstone and created by former Disney executives, according to one of the people.
The conversations were initially covered by the Indian publication The Economic Times earlier on Wednesday. According to a story from Bloomberg News last week, Disney has also spoken with Indian billionaires Gautam Adani and Kalanithi Maran, the owner of Sun TV Network (SUTV.NS).
Disney hopes that making cricket available for free on smartphones will turn around the fortunes of its streaming business in India, where subscriber withdrawals are quickening.
The Indian Premier League and the bilateral matches of the national cricket team are among the important cricket competitions for which it has since lost the streaming rights to Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s television company.
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