Ericsson completed the sale of a majority stake in its media business, a deal which was delayed due to the complexities of splitting out its operations to become a standalone operation.

The Swedish vendor sold a majority stake in the unit, MediaKind, to private equity company One Equity Partners, although it retains a substantial (49 per cent) stake. The deal will also have a positive impact on Ericsson’s operating income for Q1 2019 to the tune of between SEK400 million ($44.1 million) and SEK600 million.

Ericsson had been reviewing the options for its media operations for some time, although it looks as though it was not overburdened with options. It opted not to sell one of the constituent parts, Red Bee Media, after bids failed to meet its expectations.

But, it also said it always intended to keep a stake in what became MediaKind, due to the cross-over between big customers.

The deal was initially scheduled to be completed in Q3 2018, although this was subsequently pushed-back to Q4. In the end, the transaction date was 31 January 2019.