Disney will sell its 50% stake in A+E Global Media to Hearst in a billion-dollar deal, TheWrap has learned. The company is expected to announce the sale in its earnings call next week.
This marks the company’s first strategic sale under the leadership of new CEO Josh D’Amaro. The deal is reportedly worth upwards of $1 billion and is all-cash, according to media reports. Rich Greenfield’s LightShed Partners initially reported news of the deal.
TheWrap reached out to Disney, Hearst and A+E for comment.
Disney’s potential sale of A+E Global Media to Hearst was first reported last summer. A+E Global Media owns cable channels including A&E, the History Channel and Lifetime.
A+E Global Media President and Chairman Paul Buccieri will continue to lead the company following the transaction under Hearst CEO Steven R. Swartz, TheWrap has learned.
The company is currently a 50-50 joint venture between Disney and Hearst and hired the investment banking arm of Wells Fargo to explore potential sale options last July.
The sale process started under the previous Disney regime of CEO Bob Iger but has been completed under D’Amaro.
This deal sees the company ditching a bulk of its linear assets; however, the company’s chief financial officer Hugh Johnston doubled down on the company’s position that it does not plan to spin off or sell linear TV networks on the most recent earnings call in May.
Disney still owns linear assets ABC, ESPN and cable networks such as National Geographic, FX and Freeform. Many of the series end up on their streaming platforms Hulu and Disney+. Disney and Hearst are also joint stakeholders of ESPN, with Disney as a majority owner at 72% and Hearst at 18%.
A+E Global Media also includes A+E Studios, which produced Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” and “You,” and A+E Digital Media, which includes YouTube channels and SVOD platforms including A&E Crime Central, HISTORY Vault and Lifetime Movie Club, among others.
The media company is still profitable and has no debt under Buccieri’s leadership.
A+E Global has over 70,000 distinct content assets, ranging from short-form to long-form, which reach more than 414 million households in 200 territories and 40 languages.
