Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment, on Monday, officially entered into a partnership with Dutch-American music label company Universal Music Group (UMG) which acquired equity in what’s reported to be the biggest minority stakes deal of Indian entertainment.
Valued at Rs 2700 crore, Excel Entertainment sold 30% of its stakes to UMG for Rs 800 crore, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal, choosing to keep majority stakes within its existing ownership. In a joint press release shared by Excel Entertainment and UMG, it was also confirmed that Farhan and Ritesh will continue to exercise complete creative control on all the projects going forward as well.
As per the agreement between UMG and Excel Entertainment, Universal will attain global distribution projects for all soundtracks that are created for projects owned by Excel Entertainment, going forward. Their contract also includes the launch of a dedicated music label for Excel Entertainment led projects, which will be distributed by UMG on a global scale.
Excel Entertainment, which was started in 1999, began its film journey with Dil Chahta Hai, which released in 2001 and instantly established Excel as a new-age, youth-oriented production house. In the last 25 years, the production house has backed some of the most iconic films and series of recent times like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011), Gully Boy (2019), Mirzapur, and many more.
Meanwhile, Universal Music Group established its India wing only in 1999, with Universal Music India, largely venturing into independent pop music, backing renowned artists like Falguni Pathak and Shaan among others.
In late 2024, Karan Johar's Dharma Productions entered into a somewhat similar partnership with Adar Poonawalla, selling away 50 per cent of its stakes.
