Good news for RCB fans, franchise owner clearly denies selling the team

There is good news for the fans of the IPL 2025 championship-winning Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as it has been said that United Spirits' holding company Diageo is contemplating the sale of its present stake in IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The moment the news came out in the press, shares of United Spirits rose over 3 percent to new five-month highs on June 10. United Spirits has now rushed to release a clarification over this, outright rejecting any such involvement of theirs.

In a regulatory filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), United Spirits said that there was speculation about this in media reports. No discussions were going on about the stake sale. United Spirits has said that this is a reference to your email dated June 10, 2025, seeking clarification from the company on media reports regarding a possible stake sale of RCB. The company would like to clarify that the above media reports contain speculation and it is not pursuing any such discussions.

In fact, this clarification comes after reports that Diageo is in talks with advisors to sell some or all of its stake in Royal Challengers Bangalore, in what was said to be a deal worth Rs 17,000 crore. The report also mentions that no final decision has been taken yet, and Diageo may ultimately decide not to go ahead with the sale.

RCB, one of the most popular IPL franchises, was originally bought by Vijay Mallya. Diageo took control of the team after buying Mallya's spirits business after Kingfisher Airlines shut down in 2012. On the other hand, Royal Challengers Bangalore won their first IPL title by defeating Punjab Kings by six runs in a close match. Despite such turmoil, the shares of United Spirits showed a positive trend, which also contributed to the strong financial performance of the company in the March quarter.