2023-12-15 12:24:00
The leading European audiovisual group RTL announced this Friday that it had reached an agreement to sell its subsidiary RTL Nederland for an amount of 1.1 billion euros. The new buyer, the Belgian DPG Media, is a multimedia company present in the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark. Its turnover reached 1.8 billion euros last year. It operates in particular in television, radio, magazines and online services.
“The sale to DPG Media is the best strategic option for RTL Nederland and all its stakeholders », Commented Thomas Rabe, CEO of RTL Group, a subsidiary of the German Berterlsmann.
As a reminder, the group owns 56 television channels and 36 radio stations in Europe, and newspapers, mainly in France, Germany and Luxembourg.
Failure for a merger in early 2023
The CEO welcomes the “ extraordinary successes » of the subsidiary RTL Nederland, which has “ market-leading audience shares “. RTL Nederland recorded a total turnover of 636 million euros in 2022. It nevertheless regretted that their consolidation strategy in the Netherlands was blocked by the country’s Competition Authority at the start of 2023. RTL Group had in fact the project to merge RTL Nederland and Talpa Network, an audiovisual group founded by John de Mol (co-founder of Endemol).
A failure as audiovisual groups have been pleading in recent years to strengthen the consolidation of the European television market, with the aim of being able to compete with the American giants and their streaming platform. This episode recalled the abandonment of the merger project between TF1 and M6 – also owned by Berterlsmann – due to constraints deemed too strong imposed by the French competition authority. The sale of its subsidiary is therefore “ the best strategic option » for RTL Group, assures the CEO.
Strategic partnership
However, relations between the two groups will not stop at a simple transaction. Indeed, RTL Group has announced a strategic partnership with DPG Media in the areas of , streaming technologies, international sales and content, according to a press release. The contracts in these areas will thus be renewed for a period of three years.
« We look forward to the strategic partnership with DPG Media, working closely on European solutions in and streaming technology, international sales and joint content development “, said Thomas Rabe.
RTL group broadcasters in France, Germany and Hungary will also be able to continue to receive first broadcast rights for new programs developed by RTL Nederland, for a period of three years. And DPG Media will be able to continue to use the brand “ RTL » in the Netherlands until at least December 2034.
The transaction should nevertheless wait until mid-2024 to be finalized. RTL Group estimates having achieved a capital gain of 0.8 billion euros and shareholders will be able to benefit from the transaction as required by the group’s dividend policy, specifies the press release.
RTL Group with separates several magazines into Germany
The German media giant RTL Group announced in early February that it would cut 500 jobs and sell off around twenty magazines in Germany. Purpose of the operation? Focus on your flagship brands ”, once morest a backdrop of the paper press crisis and rising costs, he announced at the beginning of February 2023.
The group also wants reorganize » its portfolio of publications and focus on its flagship brands, “ which represent approximately 70% of current sales “. In detail, the company will only keep around ten magazine brands, which it holds through its subsidiaries. The German versions of the magazines will be retained GEO, Gala et Capitalas well as the German women’s newspaper Brigitte and the weekly news magazine Stern. The rest of the titles, around twenty, will be “ sold or discontinued “, indicated the group. Due to the sale of these titles, 200 additional employees will leave the company, added RTL Group, bringing the total of positions eliminated to 700.
These decisions were made in the context of the rapidly changing media landscape and the difficult macroeconomic situation », Explained Thomas Rabe, president of RTL Germany, quoted in the press release. The magazine press has suffered a decline in favor of digital technology for several years. But the energy crisis and the inflation of certain costs, such as paper, have worsened the economic situation of the sector.
This reorganization also marks the failure of RTL Group’s takeover in 2021 of the publisher Grüner+Jahr, which held these magazine titles. The companies, both subsidiaries of Bertelsmann, intended to bring together, in a single structure, the group’s audiovisual, written and radio media to create a “ national media champion “. The objective, stated at the time, of 100 million euros in synergies thanks to this merger between the different editorial teams was not achieved, the group now counting on 75 million euros. Only certain titles, like Stern, Geo et Capital, will ultimately be fully integrated into RTL Groupe. The others will remain managed within Grüner+Jahr.
At the end of 2022, Bertelsmann had decided not to sell its majority stake of 48.3% in the M6 Group (owner of the M6, W9, 6ter, Gulli and Paris Première channels and the RTL, RTL2 and Fun Radio radio stations).
(With AFP)
1702649762
#RTL #Group #sells #RTL #Nederland #DPG #Media #billion #euros
