With the Reliance-Disney India merger, Nita Ambani, the wife of Reliance CEO Mukesh Ambani, is re-entering the corporate world as the chair of the new organization, where her connections to Bollywood and background in the arts and sports might be beneficial.
In one of the fastest-growing entertainment marketplaces in the world, Walt Disney Co. and billionaire Mukesh Ambani's conglomerate have inked a legally binding agreement to combine their media operations in India, becoming a $8.5 billion industry giant. It is anticipated that the purchase would conclude in the first or final quarter of 2025 or 2024.
Only a few months ago, Nita Ambani resigned from the board of Reliance Industries, the parent company of the retail-to-telecoms business, "to devote her energies and time to guide" the firm's philanthropic endeavor.
Her acceptance of the position is a clear indication "that this (media) business is close to the family's heart," according to a Reliance source cited in a Reuters story. One area of interest overlap between the merging company and 60-year-old Nita Ambani is sports, particularly cricket.
In the upcoming years, Disney and Reliance will each spend billions on the TV and streaming rights to major cricket events. The Mumbai Indians squad of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the richest cricket league in the world, is owned by Nita Ambani.
She has worked for years on Reliance group activities including sports and education, so Shailesh Haribhakti, who is the board chair at numerous Indian firms and has interacted with her before, felt she was a suitable option to head the board.
Although the majority of Nita Ambani's work at Reliance throughout the years has been focused on the company's charitable endeavors, she is also an honorary trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and a member of the International Olympic Committee.
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