Paramount & Reliance agree $517m deal for Viacom18 stake

Mukesh Ambani

Paramount Global has sold its 13% stake in Indian media venture Viacom18 to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries for $517m.

Reliance already holds the majority stake in the business, which counts the JioCinema streaming service and producer-distributor Viacom18 Studios among its assets.

Confirmation of the sale comes a week after news first broke that Paramount was looking to exit Viacom 18, which counts James Murdoch’s Bodhi Tree System among investors.

The deal, which is subject to passing regulatory approval, comes just weeks after Ambani’s Reliance stuck a deal with Disney to merge their streaming and TV operations in India to create a new entity valued at $8.5bn.

The new service is planned to incorporate 120 TV channels as well as the streamers JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar.