Disney Buys Major Streaming Company For $900M to Boost Disney+

The Walt Disney Company has acquired a significant streaming company for $900M to boost its own streaming platform, Disney+.

Amid a series of changes across The Walt Disney Company, including different price increases for Disney Parks’ admission and experiences, fluctuating pricing for Disney’s Genie+ system, and most recently, the return of Disney’s CEO Robert Iger, the company has paid $900M to buy a significant streaming tech company to boost Disney+, the company’s streaming platform.

The Walt Disney Company reportedly paid $900M to Major League Baseball for the remaining 15% stake in BAMTech, a streaming video tech company that powers Disney+. This jaw-dropping financial movement comes just days before Disney+ is set to launch its ad-supported subscription tier and ahead of planned corporate restructuring under reinstated CEO Bob Iger.

MLB developed BAMTech as an in-house advanced media business before later spinning out as an independent company in 2015. The Walt Disney Company initially acquired a 33% stake in 2016 and then upped its position to 75% upon announcing its Disney+ plans in 2017, gaining majority ownership of BAMTech. The Walt Disney Company subsequently bought out a 10% stake from the National Hockey League and now has acquired the remaining 15%, formerly owned by MLB, to gain full ownership of the company.

Considering all the financial movements involved in BAMTech’s transition, The Walt Disney Company paid $3.48B to gain full ownership over the streaming tech company, per Forbes.

BAMTech, which was officially renamed “Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution” when Disney gained majority ownership of the company, states the following regarding the company:

Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution (DMED) brings together the Company’s best-in-class product, technology, and commercialization teams into one global organization. DMED is responsible for the P&L management and all distribution, network and engineering operations, sales, advertising, data, and certain key technology functions worldwide for the Company’s content engines. DMED also manages operations of the Company’s streaming services including Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and Disney+ Hotstar; and domestic broadcast and cable television networks.

As stated above, this recent acquisition comes in preparation for the launch of the ad-based subscription tier to Disney+, which will bring a series of changes to the platform, Hulu and ESPN+, Disney’s sister platforms. You can click here to read more about the changes coming to Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.