After Rajasthan Royals, RCB has also got a new owner. The consortium led by Aditya Birla Group has purchased the Royal Challengers Bangalore team for an amount of US $ 1.78 billion. Aditya Birla Group, Times of India Group, Bolt Ventures and Blackstone Investment Company have together purchased the RCB franchise for more than Rs 16,000 crore. He has purchased 100 percent stake of the Bengaluru team from United Spirits Limited.

Aditya Birla Group director, Aryaman Vikram Birla will be the chairman of the RCB franchise, while Times of India Group’s Satyan Gajwani will be the vice chairman of the team. Royal Challengers Bangalore is the defending champion of IPL, who defeated Punjab Kings by 6 runs in the final of IPL 2025.

Earlier, the group led by Kal Somani had bought Rajasthan Royals for $ 1.63 billion, which is equivalent to about Rs 15,286 crore. But the deal for Royal Challengers Bangalore has been done for more than Rs 16,000 crore. Under this deal, the ownership rights of RCB’s men’s and women’s team will also be with this new group.

Royal Challengers Bangalore will play its first match in IPL 2026 against Sunrisers Hyderabad on 28 March. After that, RCB’s next match will be with Chennai Super Kings on 5th April. On April 10, Rajasthan Royals and on April 12, RCB will face 5-time champion Mumbai Indians.

Till now RCB team has won 2 trophies in IPL and WPL. Women won the Women’s Premier League title in 2024. Whereas in 2025, the Bengaluru team under the captaincy of Rajat Patidar had lifted the IPL trophy.

Also read:

Rajasthan Royals team sold for Rs 15286 crore, RR becomes the most expensive team of IPL

Before the mini auction for the 19th edition of IPL, a big news related to the current champion RCB (Royal Challengers Bangalore) is coming out. According to reports, the makers of Kantara movie have shown interest in buying RCB. Apart from Kantara, Homebell Films has made blockbuster movies like KGF and Salaar. Talks are currently going on between Homebell and Diago India to buy stake in RCB. Let us tell you that the current company that owns RCB is Diago India.

It is being claimed in the reports that the deal between these two companies can be finalized before IPL 2026. This news came at a time when it came to light that many big companies and businessmen had shown interest in buying RCB. However, it is not yet known which people have talked to Diago India to buy RCB.

RCB and Homebell have worked together

It has also been said in the report that both have worked together before. Homebell Films is the official digital partner of RCB from 2023. The company has run several engagement campaigns for the team, creating creative promos and cinematic match teasers. Now a report claimed that the company wants to buy stake in RCB.

Adani to Kamat are showing interest

It is reported that Gautam Adani, Devyani International, Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamat, JSW Group, Serum Institute owner Adar Poonawala have also shown interest in buying stake in Royal Challengers Bangalore. However, it is not known who has officially sent the proposal to RCB.

Royal Challengers Bangalore will play in the upcoming edition (IPL 2026) as the defending champion. The team won its first IPL title after 18 years in the last edition. After becoming the champion, Diago India had announced that it was selling its stake in the team, estimating the value of the team at around Rs 17,000 crore.

RCB’s retention list for IPL 2026

On November 15, the retention list of RCB was also released along with all the 10 teams. The franchise has retained Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal, Jitesh Sharma, Phil Salt, Swapnil Singh, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Tim David, Josh Hazlewood, Jacob Bethel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Nuwan Tushar, Rasik Salam, Suyyash Sharma and Abhinandan Sharma.

Preparations are going on for the auction for the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League, meanwhile a new news has come related to the sale of Royal Challengers Bangalore. There was news of this for the last few days, but now the report has revealed that the sale process of RCB has started. This process will be finished before the next season. According to the report, the current owner of the franchise, Diageo itself has announced this. RCB, which has been a part of the league since 2008, had won its first IPL title in the last edition (2025), this was also the first title of Virat Kohli who has been playing for this team since the first season.

RCB men’s team plays in IPL and women’s team plays in WPL. There was speculation about the sale of RCB for a long time, but now the franchise owner Diageo itself has confirmed it. According to the report of Cricbuzz, the information about the sale of the team has been given by Diageo itself.

In a message to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Wednesday (November 5), the British company described it as a ‘strategic review’ of its investment in Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd (RCSPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Diageo’s Indian subsidiary United Spirits Ltd, according to the report.

The company said in its disclosure, “USL is initiating a strategic review of its investment in its wholly owned subsidiary RCSPL. RCSPL’s business includes the ownership of the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise team, which participates in the Men’s Indian Premier League and Women’s Premier League cricket tournaments organized annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.”

Diageo is close to a sale deal

In their covering letter to the stock exchange, Diageo and USL revealed “it is expected that this process will be completed by March 31, 2026.” Cricbuzz report said that people familiar with such matters say that there is every possibility that USL/Diageo are close to a deal and that is why the date has been announced.

Vijay Mallya bought RCB team in 2008

The Indian Premier League was started in 2008, when BCCI had initially bid for 8 teams to play. The bid for RCB team was won by Vijay Mallya, he bought this franchise for about Rs 600 crores. Vijay Mallya was then the owner of United Spirits. In 2014, the entire ownership rights in USL came to Diageo with more than 54 percent stake.

RCB For Sale Before IPL 2026: Royal Challengers Bangalore may get a new owner before the start of IPL 2026. In the beginning of October, news came out that Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawala wants to buy RCB. According to the report of Cricbuzz, the number of buyers of RCB is increasing. There are six deals pending to buy this franchise. The biggest name in the list of these buyers is Parth Jindal, owner of Jindal South West (JSW) Group and ‘Adani Group’.

RCB will be sold before IPL 2026

The command of Royal Challengers Bangalore is currently with the British company Diageo PLC, but now they are ready to separate from this franchise. JSW Group and Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal is ready to buy RCB. The Jindal Group currently owns the Delhi Capitals franchise along with Grandi Mallikarjuna Rao (GMR) Group. But now if Jindal Group becomes the owner of RCB, then only GMR Group will remain the owner of DC or a new owner will have to be found for the Delhi team.

Entry of Adani Group

Not only Jindal Group but also Adani Group is included in the list of buyers of Royal Challengers Bangalore. Adani Group had shown interest in buying Gujarat Titans in 2021. Adani Group is the owner of Gujarat Titans in WPL (Women’s Premier League). Now after buying RCB, Adani Group wants to establish its foothold in IPL also.

For how much will RCB be sold?

Royal Challengers Bangalore is named among the most favorite teams of IPL. The fan following of this franchise is very high. Even on social media, RCB is much ahead of other teams in terms of followers. But the biggest issue before selling RCB is its evaluation. The British company is estimating its price to be around Rs 17,859 crore. Poonawala does not seem to agree with this figure.

Read also

Virat Kohli found a small fan in Australia, Mari Gulati got angry after getting his autograph; Funny reaction video goes viral