Amazon-MX Player deal may not sail through
The high-profile deal between Amazon Prime Video and MX Player is most likely to be called off due to issues with due diligence, sources privy to the development told e4m. The US-based e-commerce giant had roped in a leading consulting firm for due diligence regarding the deal. The talks between Prime Video team and Times Internet (which owns MX Player) ceased recently, even as both the players held multiple rounds of discussion over the past few months. Mails sent to Times Internet and Amazon remained unanswered till the time of writing these lines. It is believed that Amazon sought to acquire the platform at substantially less price than the last acquisition price of the OTT Player. The price proposed by Amazon was not clear but it was reportedly around $50 million, roughly Rs 400 crore. Times Internet Ltd (TIL) acquired MX Player for an estimated sum of $140 million or Rs 1,000 crore in 2018. Had the deal gone through, Prime Video would have become the largest OTT player in India in terms of consumer acquisition. Prime Video has an estimated 28 million users in India, while MX Player has nearly 78 million users. The proposed deal had the potential to make India’s OTT war intense, with the Reliance Group throwing its hat in the game by acquiring digital rights of the IPL, and also at a time when the sector faces growth challenges. History MX Player was initially developed by Karan Bedi in 2011 as a video player. Bedi is the CEO of the firm. MX Player was acquired by Times Internet in 2018 for about $140 Mn. Following acquisition, MX Player raised $110 Mn in its Series A round from Tencent at a valuation of over $500 Mn, as per Tracxn. Tencent is a Chinese entertainment conglomerate and holding company. MX Player was ranked as the third most downloaded OTT app globally in 2022 as per the State of Mobile 2023 report by data.ai. In India too, MX Player was the most downloaded app, the report claimed.
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