Hearst will acquire Disney's 50% interest in A+E Global Media for approximately $1.2 billion in cash, taking full ownership of a television business the two companies have shared for decades. The deal is expected to close in September 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, after which A+E Global Media will become a wholly owned Hearst business within its Entertainment group (Deadline).

The agreement ends a partnership that stretches back to the earliest days of cable. A+E Global Media was launched in 1984 as A&E, short for the Arts & Entertainment Network. Over the decades it grew into a sprawling international operation that now reaches more than 414 million households across 200 territories in 40 languages. Its brand portfolio includes A&E, Lifetime, History, LMN, FYI and Vice TV (Deadline).

The two owners had run the business as a 50/50 joint venture for years. Disney's 2019 annual report listed A+E as equally owned by The Walt Disney Company and Hearst, a structure also reflected in Disney's 2013 annual report, which described A&E Television Networks as a joint venture owned 50% by each company (Disney 2019 Annual Report). The company was formerly known as A+E Networks before adopting its current name (Variety).

This is not the first time Disney and Hearst have reshuffled their shared television assets. In September 2009, both companies contributed their 50% interests in Lifetime into A+E in a transaction with reported values of $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion. Before that, in October 2006, Disney sold its 39.5% interest in E! Entertainment Television for $1.23 billion, booking a pre-tax gain (Disney 2011 Annual Report; Disney 2007 Annual Report).

Leadership at A+E Global Media will stay the same. Paul Buccieri, the company's President and Chairman, will continue to lead it after the transaction closes. Hearst's president and CEO is Steven R. Swartz (Deadline).

For viewers at home, the channels themselves — A&E, Lifetime, History and the rest — will not disappear from their TV guides. What changes is who owns the whole machine. Disney, which had been shedding linear cable assets, walks away with $1.2 billion in cash. Hearst, already half-owner, now owns the place outright.

The deal was first reported on 30 July 2026 by both Deadline and Variety, which valued the transaction at more than $1 billion and described it as Disney shedding a linear asset (Deadline; Variety). Deadline confirmed the final price and closing details on 4 August 2026.

A+E Global Media's channels reach into more than 200 territories, which means the eventual impact of full Hearst ownership — on programming decisions, licensing deals and international strategy — will play out across a footprint far wider than the United States. For now, the deal has been agreed, the price is set, and September is the target.