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Amazon has agreed to acquire key assets of Indian video streaming service MX Player from the local medium powerhouse Times Internet , the latest tone by the east - commerce hulk to make its services and stain democratic in smaller city and Town in the key overseas mart .
The two firm reached a definitive agreement for the deal on Wednesday even , a source conversant with the affair told TechCrunch . The deal appreciate MX Player at less than $ 100 million , far myopic of the $ 500 million valuationat which the pennant raised its last capital , the source said , on status of namelessness because the caller are yet to publicly comment on the deal .
Amazon is acquire some assets of MX Player , but not the entire firm , which also counts Tencent among its backers . Many of the top executives at MX Player will move to Amazon after the transaction closes .
The deal caps a nearly two - year deliberation between the two firms as they sought to ascertain synergies between their properties . Times Internet and its affiliate Times Group have been looking to sell off many of their digital properties in the preceding two years .
TechCrunch report in February last yr that Amazon and MX Player wereengaging for a deal . Sony , which was in parallel see tomerge its India unit of measurement with media house Zee , also expressed interest in acquire MX Player , butcomplications with the Zee dealderailed its travail , concord to several sources familiar with the subject .
In MX Player , Amazon gets a distribution and marketing partner that can help make the e - mercantilism platform more democratic and trustworthy to audiences in the smaller Indian city and towns , a reference intimate with Amazon ’s scheme tell TechCrunch . MX Player is especially pop among such demographic groups , and Amazon ’s vitamin E - commerce service has long only been democratic among the urban city consumers . Amazon will hold the MX Player stigmatisation , the source sound out .
Amazon has been broadening its video streaming offering in India to make noise outside of the metro cities . The company charges as small as $ 9.50 yearly for a discrepancy of its Prime subscription that bunch a version of Prime Video . It also maintains many partnerships with local telecom operators to bundle Prime Video with their tariff program . In 2021 , Amazonlaunched an additional free , but ad - underpin , picture streaming service in India .
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An Amazon representative reassert it has accord to buy some assets of MX Player after publication of this story .
“ We are always looking for ways to precede new products and service that serve meliorate customer ’ lives , ” an Amazon spokesperson told TechCrunch in a statement . “ We ’re unrestrained to continue to entertain India with the great local originals and undivided content useable across our Prime Video and miniTV services in India . ”
Reliance , which operates the country ’s largest retail chain , go the video streaming service market place in India with Disney . The two firmsagreed to merge their India media propertiesin belated February . Together , their apps commanded 55 % of all video cyclosis services ’ monthly active users in India . MX Player had a 15 % market share , according to a UBS bank note , accessed via S&P Global Intelligence . Netflix and Prime Video had between 3 % and 5 % market share each , the investment savings bank tell .
Times Internetacquired MX Player in 2018 for $ 140 million . The app , which rise in South Korea , gained huge popularity in India due to its alone local video playback feature . This functionality allows the app to support a wide range of television file format , making it highly compatible with affordable Android smartphones that are prevalent in develop markets .
In reaction to the Indian government ’s ban on the popular inadequate - picture app TikTok in mid-2020 , MX Player also sought to clutch the opportunity and launch its own unretentive - video app ( called MX TakaTak ) to satisfy the void in the grocery . Times cyberspace latersold the inadequate - video app to ShareChat , a go Indian social media platform in a deal valued at over $ 650 million .
Times Internet did n’t immediately respond to a petition for comment Thursday .
