Lupa India, the investment company set up by Uday Shankar and James Murdoch, is in the final stages of picking up a 39 per cent stake in Viacom 18
Lupa India, the investment company set up by Uday Shankar and James Murdoch, is in the final stages of picking up a 39 per cent stake in Viacom 18, which runs television and digital entertainment channels and is entering the sports business, say sources.
Viacom18 is currently a joint venture in which TV18 controlled by Reliance Industries Ltd, has a 51 per cent stake, and Viacom CBS has a 49 per cent stake. The company runs Color channels, Nickelodeon, India, Comedy Central India, VH1 India, MTV India, History TV 18 besides Viacom 18 Studios (which makes movies and other content), and OTT channel Voot. The news business is run by Network 18 which is a listed company of which TV 18 is a subsidiary. While Reliance’s TV18 will maintain its majority stake of 51 per cent, Shankar-Murdoch will pick up a 39 per cent stake, thereby turning Viacom into a minority player with a 10 per cent share in the company.
Sources say that the Shankar-Murdoch investment arm has made it clear that it has no interest in the group’s news business, and will only invest in the step-down subsidiary. It is also believed that Shankar will play a key role in building the sports business for the JV. Uday Shankar was unavailable for comment. A spokesperson of Reliance Indistries said: “As a policy, we do not comment on media speculation or rumours, Our company evaluates various opportunities on an ongoing basis.”
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