Blackstone in talks to acquire stake in Disney's Indian division amid free ICC World Cup streaming

Blackstone, a private equity firm, has started initial talks with the Walt Disney Company to acquire a stake in the Indian division of the firm.

The Indian entertainment market has become very tough, and Blackstone is the new firm interested in acquiring Disney’s assets. Disney has been looking for a sale or a joint venture partner for their digital business for some time now.

Blackstone is backed by Candle Media, a U.S.-based media firm. Interestingly, Candle Media was founded by former Disney executives. The first round of talks between the two firms was held last week.

Both Disney and Blackstone have not made a statement regarding this deal yet.

It was also reported last week that Disney approached Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and Kalanithi Maran, owner of Sun TV Network.

Disney has been losing subscribers at an alarming rate and, hence, has been trying different tactics to revive its revenue. One such tactic is offering free streaming of the ICC World Cup on smart phones. They hope that this will increase their advertising revenue.

To make things worse, Disney even lost the streaming rights to some major cricket tournaments to Jio Cinema, headed by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani. These tournaments include the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Indian cricket team’s bilateral series.