Royal Challengers Bengaluru was the second most expensive franchise when the BCCI sold the original eight teams in the IPL. Vijay Mallya In 2008, it bought the Bengaluru franchise for $111.6 million (Rs 446.40 crore; $1 = Rs 40), just behind the $111.90 million paid by Reliance Industries for Mumbai Indians.“My only motive behind buying RCB was to promote my whiskey brand, Royal Challenge; there was no love of cricket behind it,” Mallya recently said during a podcast about his decision to buy RCB.
Structurally, the team was owned by United Spirits/United Spirits subsidiaries (often referred to as Royal Challengers Sports/United Spirits Sports etc.), with Mallya’s UB Group as United Spirits’ promoter.In 2012-13, the Diageo Group agreed to acquire control of United Spirits Limited (USL). By the mid-2010s, Diageo had effective and then majority control of USL, and therefore of the franchise, although UB Holdings retained a minority stake in USL for some time.Amid legal and financial woes, Vijay Mallya eventually stepped down from the USL board and relinquished active control of the franchise around 2016. This leaves Diageo/USL as the effective owner and operator of RCB.In March 2024, the franchise officially changed its name from Royal Challengers Bangalore to Royal Challengers Bengaluru, in line with the new spelling of the city.RCB ended their IPL title drought by winning the title in the 18th edition of the T20 competition in 2025.In late 2025, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, owned by United Spirits Limited, a subsidiary of Digeo, put the franchise up for sale.came to the table with multiple bidders Consortium of Aditya Birla Group, TOI Group, Bolt Ventures and Blackstone Consortium Due to the highest bid of $1.78 billion.In total, Royal Challengers Bengaluru has seen a value increase of $1.67 billion over 18 years. This represents a 1495 percent increase, or 16 times the original price paid by Vijay Mallya.
