Disney attempting acquisition of UTV
$454 million offered to purchase remaining 49.6% of Indian media conglomerate
Disney has reportedly made an offer of $454 million to acquire Ignition parent company UTV in its entirity, by purchasing the remaining 49.6 per cent of the shares which it doesn't already own.
Ignition would come as part of that deal, alongside the company's extensive Bollywood interests, Reuters reports.
disney already owns a 50.4 per cent stake in the company, but total ownership seem to be the media giant's goal. What that might mean for the troubled Ignition is not clear, but the news comes after a series of several waves of job losses and studio closures at both Ignition and Disney itself.
Just today, thirty jobs were lost at Three Melons in Buenos Aires, an internal studio which is part of Disney's social casual arm, Playdom. Prior to that came losses and eventually closures at Black Rock and Propaganda games.
Ignition has borne its own share of bad news in the last few months as well, seeing studios in the US, UK and Japan faced with closure.
Currently, UTV seems to be in the process of turning Ignition into a publishing house rather than a development outfit, closing down all unnecessary assets in the process. Whether or not Disney would continue in that vein remains to be seen.