India's Reliance Industries has signed a "binding agreement" to merge with Walt Disney's domestic division, Bloomberg News reported.
The Indian entertainment market is already one of the largest in the world, and the expected merger will create a huge and powerful giant in this sector.
The announcement of the deal comes as billionaire Mukesh Ambani, chairman of oil and telecommunications giant Reliance Industries, prepares to host Disney chief Robert Iger on March 1 for his son's wedding in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
The deal calls for Reliance's media division and its affiliates to own at least a 61% stake in the combined entity, with Disney holding the rest.
Disney has been under considerable pressure since Iger returned from semi-retirement more than a year ago when his successor underperformed.
The 66-year-old Ambani is the tenth richest person in the world, according to Forbes' list of real-time billionaires.
He has invited a list of influential businessmen and politicians to celebrate the wedding of his son Ananth Ambani and Radhika Merchant, daughter of an industrialist, from March 1-3.
Television company CNBC-TV18, which is part-owned by Reliance, said Ambani's guest list includes Meta head Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, as well as investment and banking company chiefs and stars from Bollywood and cricket.
Other guests include Ivanka Trump, daughter of the former US president, as well as former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the King of Bhutan.
Last month, a proposed $10 billion merger between India's Zee Entertainment and the local unit of Japanese giant Sony was reportedly called off due to disagreements over who would head the new entity. /BGNES
