Mediawan buys Brad Pitt's production company and sets out to conquer Hollywood
The trio Xavier Niel (left), Pierre Antoine-Capton and Matthieu Pigasse (right), co-founders of Mediawan, June 19, 2020. AFP - JOEL SAGET
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The French audiovisual group has taken control of the Hollywood production house Plan B Entertainment, co-founded and chaired by American star Brad Pitt.
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“
This majority stake acquisition is carried out partly in Mediawan shares, thus leading the three co-presidents of Plan B, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, to also become shareholders of Mediawan”, indicates the group in a press release
.
According to Mediawan, this "
unprecedented partnership
" between two producers in Europe and the United States "
marks the deployment of Mediawan on the American market
".
The group, which created the production company Blue Morning Pictures in September with director Florian Zeller, will bring together its activities across the Atlantic in a new dedicated entity.
"
It's an exceptional opportunity to be able to develop Mediawan alongside Plan B, the finest independent production company in the US
", commented the CEO of Mediawan, Pierre-Antoine Capton, quoted in the press release.
“
Talents are emerging all over the world
”
Founded in the early 2000s in Beverly Hills, California, Plan B has produced several successful films, including
The Departed
, by Martin Scorsese,
The Tree of Life
, by Terrence Malick, and
The Big Short,
by Adam McKay. , and has been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar eight times in the past ten years.
“
Cinema is becoming international.
Talents are emerging all over the world.
For our future projects, we have to look outside the United States
, ”explained Brad Pitt in an interview with Le
Parisien
.
With Mediawan, "
we have the same conception of how to produce films and series
," added the star.
The operation, in which the shareholders of Mediawan (KKR, Bpifrance, MACSF and Société Générale) take part via a capital increase, values Plan B Entertainment at more than 300 million dollars and will be carried out in several installments, according to the
Financial times
.
Founded in 2015 by Pierre-Antoine Capton, Xavier Niel and Matthieu Pigasse, the Mediawan group is present in the production, distribution and broadcasting of films, series and streaming programs.
It now brings together more than 60 production labels, gradually acquired in France and Europe.
The group behind the successes of the film
Bac Nord
and the series
Dix pour cent
now employs 1,500 people, for a turnover of around one billion euros.
(
With
AFP)
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