Disney paid Major League Baseball (MLB) $900 million earlier this month to buy out the league’s remaining 15% stake in streaming company BAMTech, according to an SEC filing made public on Tuesday.
The transaction will give Disney 100% ownership of the streaming company that powers Disney+ and the company’s other consumer services.
The SEC filing noted that MLB’s interest in BAMTech was included in the entertainment company’s financial statements for $828 million, and in November Disney purchased MLB’s interest for $900 million. Last week, Disney announced that Bob Iger is returning to the company as CEO to replace Bob Chapek. Given that this transaction took place earlier this month, it was probably one of Chapek’s last big moves.
In the filing, Disney said Iger will “initiate organizational and operational changes within the company in the coming months to achieve the goals of the board of directors.”
MLB founded MLB Advanced Media in 2000 to power its website and online streaming. It spun off the streaming division as BAMTech in 2015. A year later, Disney invested $1 billion for a 33% stake in BAMTech. In 2017, the entertainment conglomerate invested another $1.58 billion to acquire 42% more stake. 2021, the National Hockey League (NHL) sold its 10% stake to Disney for $350 million, bringing Disney’s stake in BAMTech to 85%.
The move comes days before Disney+ is set to launch its ad-supported tier. In the third quarter of 2022, the streaming service registered an increase of 12 million subscribers with a total of 164.2 million subscribers worldwide.
