Even as Disney and Reliance have finally negotiated a multi-billion dollar deal to merge their media assets in India, a random Indian man has found a clever way to profit from this corporate activity.
An Indian app developer based in Delhi had bought the www.jiohotstar.com domain name in early 2023 after realizing that there was a good chance that the two companies could merge operations. Nearly two years later when the merger has finally been consummated, he wants to sell the domain to Reliance at a hefty price. He says that the money Reliance pays him for the domain will enable him to pursue his education at Cambridge.
The homepage of jiohotstar.com currently contains a letter written by this app developer on its homepage. “Dear Executive of Reliance Industries,” the letter begins. “I am an app developer based in Delhi, currently working on my startup. In early 2023, while scrolling through social media, I came across a news piece stating that Disney+ Hotstar was losing daily active users after losing the IPL streaming license, and Disney is considering selling or merging Hotstar with an Indian competitor.”
The app developer then details his thought process in buying the jiohotstar.com domain name. “This led me to hypothesize that, since Sony and Zee were pursuing their own merger, Viacom 18 (owned by Reliance) is the only major player with sufficient resources to acquire Disney+ Hotstar. This reminded me of when Jio acquired the music streaming service Saavn, they rebranded it to JioSaavn, and changed the domain from Saavn.com to JioSaavn.com. I thought, “If they acquire Hotstar, they might rename it to JioHotstar.com.” I checked for the domain, and it was available. I was excited, as I felt that if this happened, I could fund my goal of studying at Cambridge,” he said.
The domain must have cost very little for the app developer — domains such as these can cost as little as $10 per year. But with the Jio and Hotstar merger finally going through, it’s possible that Reliance could shell out a massive amount for JioHotstar.com — the developer says he wants to sell the domain to fund his education at Cambridge, so it appears that he wants at least Rs. 1 crore for the domain.
And it’s not uncommon for companies to shell out large sums to get their hands on their branded domains. Housing.com had famously paid $1 million to get the domain, and the domain Voice.com had sold for a record $30 million in 2019. As such, if Reliance does indeed plan to brand its merged entity as JioHotstar, there’s a good chance it could end up buying the domain. And the Delhi-based developer’s foresight in predicting merger moves in India’s streaming wars could end up sending him straight to Cambridge.