Mediawan has taken control of Hollywood production company Plan B Entertainment, co-founded and chaired by American star Brad Pitt, the French group told AFP late on Friday.
“This acquisition of a majority stake is made in part in Mediawan shares, thus leading the three co-chairs of Plan B, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, to also become Mediawan shareholders,” the group indicates in a note from press. .
According to Mediawan, this “unprecedented partnership” between two producers from Europe and the United States “marks the deployment of Mediawan in the US market.”
Nominated 8 times for the Oscars
The group, which created production company Blue Morning Pictures in September with director Florian Zeller, will merge its activities across the Atlantic into a new dedicated entity.
“It is an exceptional opportunity to be able to develop Mediawan together with Plan B, the best independent production company in the United States,” said Mediawan CEO Pierre-Antoine Capton, quoted in the press release.
Founded in the early 2000s in Beverly Hills, California, Plan B has produced several hit movies, including the infiltrators by Martin Scorsese The Tree of Life by Terrence Malick, or even the big gamble by Adam McKay, and has been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar 8 times in the last 10 years.
“Cinema is becoming international. Talents are emerging all over the world. For our future projects, we have to look outside the United States,” Brad Pitt explained in an interview with the Parisian.
With Mediawan, “we have the same conception of how to produce movies and series,” added the star.
“Bac Nord” and “Ten Percent”
The operation, in which the shareholders of Mediawan (KKR, Bpifrance, MACSF and Société Générale) participate through 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 broadcast of movies, series and streaming programs. It now brings together more than 60 production labels, gradually acquired in France and Europe.
The group behind the movie hits. north ferry and the series Ten percent it now employs 1,500 people, with a turnover of around one billion euros.
Source: BFM TV
