The Walt Disney Company reportedly paid $900M to Major League Baseball for the remaining 15% stake in BAMTech, a streaming video tech company that powers Disney+. This jaw-dropping financial movement comes just days before Disney+ is set to launch its ad-supported subscription tier and ahead of planned corporate restructuring under reinstated CEO Bob Iger.

The Walt Disney Company subsequently bought out a 10% stake from the National Hockey League and now has acquired the remaining 15%, formerly owned by MLB, to gain full ownership of the company.

Considering all the financial movements involved in BAMTech’s transition, The Walt Disney Company paid $3.48B to gain full ownership over the streaming tech company, per Forbes.

BAMTech, which was officially renamed “Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution” when Disney gained majority ownership of the company, states the following regarding the company:

Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution (DMED) brings together the Company’s best-in-class product, technology, and commercialization teams into one global organization. DMED is responsible for the P&L management and all distribution, network and engineering operations, sales, advertising, data, and certain key technology functions worldwide for the Company’s content engines. DMED also manages operations of the Company’s streaming services including Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and Disney+ Hotstar; and domestic broadcast and cable television networks.

Disney

The move comes days before Disney+ is set to launch its ad-supported tier. In Q3 2022, the streaming service registered an increase of 12 million subscribers with a total of 164.2 million subscribers globally.