Disney has closed its deal on selling its 50% stake in A+E Global Media for a whopping $1.2 Billion. The transaction is set to take place in September 2026.

Disney’s A+E Deal

As mentioned last week, the news comes during Disney’s Q3 report. Until now, Disney owned half of the A+E Global Media stake and Hearst owned the other half. Now, Hearst essentially owns all of it.

Disney and Hearst said last year they were both planning on selling their shares of the company.

Disney said:

“We believe our shares are undervalued and we continued to lean into share repurchases during the quarter. In addition, our strategy of simplifying the company and exiting non-core assets has resulted in an agreement to sell our 50% stake in A+E Global Media to an affiliate of co-owner Hearst Corporation. We plan to use the approximately $1.2 billion in cash proceeds to repurchase additional Disney shares and now expect full year fiscal 2026 share repurchases to be at least $9 billion. “

CEO Steven R. Swartz said, “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.”

At this time, both Disney and Hearst are also stakeholders in ESPN, with Disney as the majority shareholder with 72% and Hearst with 18%. The National Football League owns the other 10%.

A+E Global Media owns brands such as Lifetime, A&E, The History Channel, Vice TV, and more.

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