IPL 2026| From Vijay Mallya to Birla: How ownership of RCB has changed over the years

The all-cash deal will see the consortium acquire a 100 per cent stake from existing owners United Spirits Limited, a subsidiary of Britain's Diageo Group.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) is set to be sold for a record $1.78 billion (approximately Rs 16,700 crore) to a four-group consortium of Aditya Birla Group (ABG), Times of India Group (ToI), Bolt Ventures and Blackstone's perpetual private equity strategy, BXPE.

The all-cash deal will see the consortium acquire a 100 per cent stake from existing owners United Spirits Limited (USL), a subsidiary of Britain's Diageo Group.

The sale sees a massive jump in RCB's value. the franchise is one of the original eight teams that were sold in 2008. At the time, liquor baron Vijay Mallya bought the Bengaluru-based team for $111.6 million (approximately 446 crore; $1= Rs 40 then). It was the second most expensive bid behind Mukesh Ambani's $111.9 million bid for Mumbai Indians.

In a podcast last year, Mallya revealed that it was a strategic business move and had nothing to do with cricket.

"My sole purpose behind buying RCB was to promote my whisky brand, Royal Challenge, there wasn't any cricket love behind it," he said.

Technically, the team was owned by by United Spirits/United Spirits subsidiaries with Mallya's United Breweries Group as the promoter of USL.

Diageo, in 2012, agreed to take control of USL, and by the mid-2010s, the British alcohol giant had taken majority control over the Indian company, and by extension the franchise.

Mallya exited the USL's board in 2016 after getting into financial and legal trouble, Diageo/USL as the effective owner and operator of RCB.'

The franchise extended its presence in the Women's Premier League in 2023 and won their first title in the league in 2024, followed by another successful year in 2026.

The team saw a name change from Royal Challengers Bangalore to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2024, aligning to the updated name of the city. In the following year in 2025, RCB won the IPL title for the first time in 18 years.

Months later, in November, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, owned by USL, was put on sale. Multiple bidders came to the table with Aditya Birla Group, TOI Group, Bolt Ventures & Blackstone consortium triumphing by bidding the highest.

RCB's value of $1.78 billion signifies a 1,495 per cent rise, or 16 times increase in the original price paid by Mallya. In 2021, the BCCI had sold Lucknow and Gujarat franchises at a combined value of Rs Rs 1.69 billion (approximately Rs 12,715 crore), signifying the enormity of RCB's value.

However, the sale will be complete after an approval by the BCCI and the Competition Commission of India.