Disney Sells Its 50% Stake In A+E Global Media For $1.2 Billion
After months of speculation, Hearst officially revealed today that it will acquire Disney’s 50% stake in A+E Global Media for approximately $1.2 billion in cash. The transaction is expected to close in September, subject to customary closing conditions.
This deal includes many well-known brands such as A&E, Lifetime, History Channel, FYI and Vice TV. As part of this deal, g A+E Global Media will become a wholly owned Hearst business within its Entertainment group.
Steven R. Swartz, president and CEO of Hearst, said in a statement regarding the deal:
“We thank our Disney colleagues for decades of successful partnership. We look forward to supporting Paul Buccieri and A+E Global Media’s leadership team as they continue to make must-see programs and innovate around the great HISTORY, Lifetime and A&E brands.”
Paul Buccieri, president and chairman of A+E Global Media, also added:
“In a media environment defined by fragmentation, A+E Global Media’s advantage is the strength and versatility of our brands, our strong partnerships and our vast library of owned assets. As we continue extending our storytelling globally across all platforms with IP that travels to every screen and form-factor, we believe we are well suited for whatever opportunities may come next. I also want to express my deepest thanks to Hearst, The Walt Disney Company and to our board members — both recent and past — for their guidance and support over the years.”
This deal has been in the works for a while, as Disney executives, including former CEO Bob Iger, had been vocal about how linear television wasn’t a core asset to the company and, with the push to streaming, its investment in A+E Media seemed at odds with its own streaming efforts.
Because the A+E Media networks were completely owned by Disney, we never saw these brands fully incorporated into Disney+ or Hulu globally; however, many of the older seasons of the most popular shows on these networks have eventually been made available on Disney’s streaming services. This sale will likely ultimately result in A+E Media-made shows eventually being removed from Hulu and Disney+ globally, once their licensing deal expires.
Disney is set to reveal its details on its latest fiscal third quarter 2026 financial results later this week, so hopefully, we hear a little more detail on this deal from Disney’s point of view
Roger’s Take: A+E has felt like a declining asset that Disney just didn’t need anymore. It wasn’t a brand they could utilise properly for Hulu or Disney+, nor did it feed their own linear channels. In a world where linear television viewership is declining year on year, selling up now makes more sense, plus Hearst can also now fully commit.
Disney already had to sell some of the channels in Europe to Hearst when it acquired 20th Century Fox, as the European government felt they had a monopoly with those channels. It’s unclear what Disney will do with that extra billion dollars, but no doubt it can be used to counterbalance the recent purchases of Comcast’s 33% stake in Hulu and, most recently, NFL Media.
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