James Murdoch’s Venture Invests Less Than Planned in India’s Viacom18

Georg Szalai
Updated ·2 min read

A set of transactions to super-charge Indian TV and streaming company Viacom18 — a joint venture of conglomerate Reliance Industries and Paramount Global, with the financial backing of Bodhi Tree Systems, an investment platform set up by James Murdoch and media exec Uday Shankar — has closed.

Murdoch’s Bodhi, whose investors include the Qatar Investment Authority, has added Comcast’s NBCUniversal Media to its financial backers, according to reports. But it also cut its investment in Viacom18 from an originally targeted $1.78 billion, now worth around $1.69 billion, to about $528 million.

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Reuters cited a source as blaming the shortfall on a funding squeeze due to a broader dealmaking slowdown. Asian media reports also cited broader market trends as a factor, but said Bodhi Tree continues to plan to raise the rest from investors.

Viacom18 is still set to get $1.89 billion in growth funding. “The partnership will enable Viacom18 to innovate and disrupt the media and entertainment sector, with Uday Shankar and James Murdoch providing strategic and operational guidance to Viacom18, leveraging their track record of building iconic media businesses,” Viacom18 said. Shankar has been appointed to its board.

“Paramount Global will continue as a shareholder and supply Viacom18 its premium global content,” the company added. “This unique partnership brings together India’s biggest conglomerate, two of the most recognized media industry veterans and a leading global media and entertainment company.”

Viacom18 touted the early success of its streaming service JioCinema’s deal for the popular IPL cricket tournament, which it is showing for free, saying it “is already paying rich dividends with IPL’s first weekend viewership on JioCinema crossing the digital viewership recorded in the entire season last year.”

Viacom18 said that Reliance’s TV arm TV18 now holds a stake of nearly 51 percent in it, with just below 49 percent owned by Paramount Global. Bodhi Tree has the remaining 0.11 percent stake. Additionally, Reliance entities control 82.2 percent of Viacom18’s convertible preference shares, with Bodhi Tree holding the remaining 17.8 percent.

If and when those preference shares get converted into ordinary shares, Reliance would own a 60.4 percent stake, TV18 a 13.5 percent ownership, Bodhi Tree and its backers 13.1 percent and Paramount Global 13 percent.

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