Understanding Reliance, Viacom18 and Uday Shankar

Why read this story?

Editor's note: This week, after months of deliberations, Mukesh Ambani finally sold a massive part of his media venture Viacom18. About 40% of Viacom18 will now be owned by Bodhi Tree Systems, an investment firm operated by Uday Shankar, one of the most influential media executives in India, in partnership with British-American billionaire and media mogul James Murdoch. Shankar is the former Asia-Pacific president of Disney and the former chairman of Star and Disney India. After two decades of what was arguably the most successful media career in India, Shankar quit Disney in late 2020 and last year started his investment firm with Murdoch. We had first reported that Shankar’s firm would be getting into Viacom18 back in January. Bodhi Tree is leading an investment of Rs 13,500 crore in Viacom18, according to a statement released late Wednesday evening. For Shankar, after a career spent building Star into India’s biggest media and entertainment company as part of Murdoch’s Fox before it was sold to Disney, this is a grand comeback. From the statement: Bodhi Tree Systems is leading a fund raise with …