Billionaire’s Wife Put in Charge of New Disney Mega-Company

The Walt Disney Company is locked into an upcoming massive merger with two huge Indian conglomerates, Reliance Industries and Viacom18, that will form one huge multimedia corporation that will utterly dominate the world’s largest market. In a surprise move, a noted philanthropist and the wife of Asia’s richest man is being put in charge of this new megacompany.

Taj Mahal with Mickey and Minnie Mouse — Credit: Edited by Inside the Magic

For months, rumors flew that Disney was looking to divest itself of its operations in India, where it had long grappled with the difficulty of asserting dominance over the world’s largest base of potential customers. Although the Mouse had managed to gain a foothold by licensing television streaming rights for the International Cricket Council (enormously popular in India), it has simply not been able to maintain a subscriber base for Disney+ Hotstar.

We recently confirmed that Disney had finally signed a binding agreement to merge its Indian operations with Reliance Industries, a vast company led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, and Viacom18, a separate company that is not coincidentally also owned by Ambani.

Nita Ambani being interviewed — Credit: CNBC

It should not be all that surprising, then, that this new company, officially named Star India Private Limited, will be led by the wife of Mukesh Ambani, the former director of Reliance Industries, Nita Ambani. The latter Ambani is also the founder of the Reliance Foundation, the non-profit charitable arm of the family’s vast holdings.

Nina Ambani has been named chair of the new Star India Private Limited (per Reuters). Reportedly, the new company will be focusing heavily on cricket media, a field in which Disney and Reliance Industries both previously invested billions trying to seize control of in India.

It is also probably not coincidental that Nina Ambani owns the Indian Premier League team, the Mumbai Indians. The Ambani family has essentially bought out Disney’s interests in India, with Reliance Industries and Viacom18 holding 63.16% of Star India Private Limited to the Mouse’s minority stake. It is entirely possible that the entire merger was just part of Mukesh Ambani’s long-term plans to control all televised and streamed cricket in India.

Indian team playing Cricket — Credit: Flickr/It’s No Game

It is also not surprising that Disney India was forced to take an even smaller minority stake in the new company than was initially expected, considering a huge deal with Zee Entertainment fell through only weeks before it publically announced the Reliance merger. Reportedly, Disney’s estimated value dropped by a staggering $5.5 billion.

Under those circumstances, it is very likely that Disney had no real bargaining power when it came to who would lead Star India Private Limited. Very likely, Mukesh Ambani wanted to keep things in the family.

What do you think of Disney India’s new leadership? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!