By Aditya Kalra
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries and U.S. giant Walt Disney are discussing a plan to hold next-stage talks about their India media business merger in London next week, two people familiar with the matter said.
Disney and Reliance have held talks to merge their India businesses by forming a joint venture company in which Ambani’s media unit would hold a majority stake, though finer details of business structures and valuations are yet to be discussed.
The meeting being planned is for agreeing on a “broad roadmap” going ahead and “not for signing” a deal, said the first source.
Reliance and Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A possible merger would create one of India’s biggest entertainment empires, setting it in competition with TV players like Zee Entertainment and Sony and streaming giants such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Mark Potter)
