ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE (officially abbreviated as P7S1, formerly ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG) is a German
mass media
Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.
Broadcast media transmit information ...
& digital company. It operates in three segments: Entertainment, Dating and Commerce & Ventures. The company is listed on the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange
The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (german: link=no, Börse Frankfurt, former German name – FWB) is the world's 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. It has operations from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm ( German time).
Organisation
Locat ...
.
History
KirchMedia GmbH & Co. KGaA became the majority shareholder in ProSieben Media AG at the end of 1999. ProSieben Media AG and Sat.1 SatellitenFernsehen GmbH, which was also part of the Kirch group, merged in 2000. The company controlled various TV channels such as SAT.1,
ProSieben
ProSieben (, ''sieben'' is German for "seven"; often stylized as Pro7) is a German free-to-air television network owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media.
It was launched on 1 January 1989. It is Germany's second-largest privately owned television company ...
Collapse of the Kirch group and takeover by Haim Saban
The company nearly merged with KirchMedia GmbH in 2002, but the merger failed due to the insolvency of the Kirch group. The company's stock price crashed following the failed merger. In 2003 the company was bought out by
P7S1 Holding
ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE (officially abbreviated as P7S1, formerly ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG) is a German mass media & digital company. It operates in three segments: Entertainment, Dating and Commerce & Ventures. The company is listed on the Fran ...
, which 25-percent owned by
Haim Saban
Haim Saban (; he, חיים סבן; born October 15, 1944) is an Israeli-American media proprietor, investor, and producer of records, film, and television. A businessman with interests in financial services, entertainment, and media, and an e ...
's
Saban Capital Group
Saban Capital Group LLC is an American investment firm based in Los Angeles, California focused on media, entertainment, and communications investments. Formed in 2010 by Haim Saban, Saban Capital Group owns Saban Films, part of Univision Commu ...
and other investors, who got an 88 percent voting share. Saban took over the TV channel group for 500 million euro. The remaining 12 percent belonged to
Axel Springer AG
Axel Springer SE () is a German digital and popular periodical publishing house which is the largest in Europe, with numerous multimedia news brands, such as ''Bild'', ''Die Welt'', and ''Fakt'' and more than 15,000 employees. It generated tot ...
.
After the takeover by P7S1 Holding the company was restructured and some TV shows were cancelled.
The company's TV channels, aimed at an age group of 14 to 49 year-old had a
market share
Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those units would have a ...
of more than 30 percent and earned of 1.8 billion euro in 2002, making a profit of 21 million euro. In the same year, the company had over three thousand employees.
When chairman Urs Rohner left the company up to 30 April 2004 "at his own request", Guillaume de Posch, a Belgian, became the new chairman.
In 2005
Axel Springer Verlag
Axel Springer SE () is a German digital and popular periodical publishing house which is the largest in Europe, with numerous multimedia news brands, such as ''Bild'', ''Die Welt'', and ''Fakt'' and more than 15,000 employees. It generated tot ...
offered to buy the company for three billion euro, but this purchase was blocked by the
Federal Cartel Office
The Federal Cartel Office (, ; BKartA) is Germany's national competition regulatory agency. First established in 1958, BKartA comes under the authority of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The agency is headquartered ...
and the Commission on Concentration in the Media,. Springer announced withdrew its offer on 31 January 2006.
Takeover by Permira and KKR
Haim Saban
Haim Saban (; he, חיים סבן; born October 15, 1944) is an Israeli-American media proprietor, investor, and producer of records, film, and television. A businessman with interests in financial services, entertainment, and media, and an e ...
's shareholding was bought by
Permira
Permira is a global investment firm. Founded in 1985, the firm advises funds with assets under management of €60+ billion. The Permira funds have made approximately 300 private equity investments in four key sectors: Technology, Consumer, Ser ...
, a
private equity
In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...
company and
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strate ...
(KKR) for about three billion euro on 14 December 2006. The shareholding was merged with Permira and KKR's other European media shareholding
SBS Broadcasting Group
SBS Broadcasting Group (SBS), formerly Scandinavian Broadcasting Systems, was a European multinational media group, operating commercial television, premium pay channels, radio stations and related print businesses in Northern, Western and Cen ...
from Luxemburg. SBS was made up of 19 private TV channels, 20
pay TV
Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...
channels and radio stations.
50.5 percent of the stock have got 88 percent of the voting rights. The rest - 49.5 percent - of the stock are listed on the stock exchange and in free float.
In the summer of 2007, ProSiebenSat.1 took 100 percent ownership in SBS for 3.3 billion euro and became in this way to the second biggest television broadcaster in Europe with yearly revenues of 3.1 billion euro. On 16 July 2007 the concern announced the reduction of 180 jobs (100 of which in Berlin and 80 in Munich) until 2009. On the same day two boulevard shows at Sat.1 were cancelled. Subsequently, further news shows were also to be cancelled or downsized.
On 10 December 2007 the
Axel Springer AG
Axel Springer SE () is a German digital and popular periodical publishing house which is the largest in Europe, with numerous multimedia news brands, such as ''Bild'', ''Die Welt'', and ''Fakt'' and more than 15,000 employees. It generated tot ...
announced a complete pull-out from ProSiebenSat.1 and the sale of their holding consisting of 12% of common stock and preferred stock to KKR and Permira for 500 million euro. This transaction was concluded on 16 January 2008. Therefore, the Lavena Holding 5 which was jointly controlled by KKR and Permira got 5% of the common stock as well as 25% of the non-preferred stock.
Upon the takeover of SBS by ProSiebenSat1 in Summer 2007 KKR and Permira offered an option to the other owner,
Telegraaf Media Groep
Mediahuis is a newspaper & magazine publishing, distribution, printing, TV, radio and online media company founded in 2014 with assets in Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg and Germany. Mediahuis publishes daily newspaper titles in Belg ...
(TMG), for 12% of the common stock if they renounce their right of preemption. In June 2008 TMG announced going into the company without their right of preemption. This deal concluded in August of the same year.
At the end of 2008, Guillaume de Posch left the company at his own request. On 1 March 2009, Thomas Ebeling became the manager of the concern. He left the company in February 2018 and will be replaced by Max Conze on 1 June 2018. In the meantime Conrad Albert is taking over the management.
In October 2009, the TV channel group had debts totaling more than 3.4 billion euro and they only paid the taxes for the loan. The group saved especially on program expenditures.
On 12 January 2011, Permira and KKR announced the sale of 8 million non-voting shares. That made up 3.7 percent of the capital stock. After finishing the bookbuilding process (according to their own disclosures) they are going to have 53 percent of the capital stock.
On 20 April 2011 ProSiebenSat.1 wanted to sell their TV channels in Belgium and the Netherlands for 1.225 billion euro to an international media group led by the Finnish concern Sanoma. The sale concluded on 29 July 2011.
On 14 December 2012, the ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG announced the sale of the whole portfolio in Scandinavia to the American Discovery Communications Inc. Not included in the deal were the production companies, which are grouped as the Red Arrow Entertainment Group. With the proceeds they wanted to pay off 500 million euro in debt as well as increase the dividend to about 5.60 Euro per share (total of 1.2 billion euro). Besides, the ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG wanted to reorganize their stock plan, so that all shares bought on the stock market could be traded.
In the middle of February 2013, the capital investors Permira and KKR started to sell all preferred shares in Lavena Holding 1, which amounts to 18 percent. The stock packet was sold at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange for close to 485 million euro (24.60 euro per share). This way, all preferred shares or half of the capital stock are now in free float.
On 9 April 2013, the announced sale of the Scandinavian company from December 2012 was closed with a value of 1.325 billion euro.ProSiebenSat.1: Verkauf der TV- und Radio-Aktivitäten in Nordeuropa vollzogen . Retrieved on 9 April 2013.
Shareholder
A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...
of the ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG decided to combine the preferred stocks and the KKR and Permira common stocks. In this way only the entitled votes can be traded at
Frankfurt Stock Exchange
The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (german: link=no, Börse Frankfurt, former German name – FWB) is the world's 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. It has operations from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm ( German time).
Organisation
Locat ...
. KKR and Permira got only a minority by 44% of the common stocks, because the authorized capital contains 50% common stocks and 50% preferred stocks. The capital investors also decided with the Telegraaf Media Groep to sell their interest in tranches at the stock exchange.
At 19 August 2013 the ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG finished its stock exchange launch, so that future common stocks will be listed in
MDAX
The MDAX is a stock index which lists German companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The index is calculated by Deutsche Börse.
Until 2021 included the 60 Prime Standard shares from sectors that rank immediately below (in value of mar ...
and the exchange council doubles.
At 4 and 6 September Lavenda Holding and Telegraaf Media Groep sold 17 percent of their stocks to institutional investors. Therefore, the stocks packet of KKR and Permira decreases to 33 percent and the Telegraaf Media Groep sold their stocks package and isn't stockholder anymore.
At the end of 2013 ProSiebenSat.1 announced the sale of the rest of its Eastern Europe holdings. The Hungarian TV channels will be sold in a Management-Buy-Out. In Romania all TV and radio channels, except for Prima TV, which should be acquired by the Romanian businessman Cristian Burci and accepted by Greek Antenna Group. The takeovers were done in the first quarter of 2014. ProSiebenSat.1 acquired Gretzer Partners on Jan 2014 to expand global media footprint.
On 17 January 2014, KKR and Permira sold their last interest so they aren't stockholders anymore.
The entrance of Mediaset
In May 2019, the Italian
Mediaset
Mediaset Italia S.p.A., also known as Mediaset, is an Italian-based mass media company which is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE - MediaForEurope. Founded in 1987 by former ...
(Mediaset Spa) invests 330 million euros to take over 9.6% of ProSiebenSat.1 without having a role in the management. In November 2019 Mediaset rises to 15.1% of the German broadcaster. The transaction took place through the subsidiary
Mediaset España
Mediaset España (), full name Mediaset España Comunicación, S.A., is a Spanish media company, controlled by the Italian company MFE - MediaForEurope. Its divisions include the generalist free-to-air TV channels Telecinco and Cuatro, thematic ch ...
, which acquired a 5.5% stake in the capital, which is added to the shares already in the group's portfolio. On 23 March 2020 Mediaset España purchased a further 4.28% of the share capital equal to 4.35% of the voting rights, bringing Mediaset's stake to 20.1% and showing the ambition to want to participate in the governance of the issuer thanks also to the 10% held by the Czech magnate
Daniel Křetínský
Daniel Křetínský (, born 9 July 1975) is a Czech billionaire businessman and lawyer, who is the chief executive officer (CEO) and 94% owner of Energetický a průmyslový holding (EPH), the largest energy group in Central Europe, co-owner an ...
, considered by analysts to be close to
Pier Silvio Berlusconi
Pier Silvio Berlusconi (born 28 April 1969) is an Italian entrepreneur in the media business. He is the son of the former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and his first wife Carla Lucia Elvira Dall'Oglio.
He has one older sister, Maria ...
in this match, in order to form a European pole of generalist TV. A few days later, on 28 March, the CEO of the company, Max Conze, always cold to a possible alliance with Mediaset, resigned surprisingly at the end of a very heated board of directors. In his place Rainer Beaujean takes over with the task of guiding the group to a return to its origins, thus aiming at generalist TVs and in fact disavowing the diversification in ecommerce launched in recent years by Conze.
On 19 March 2018 the company was removed from the
DAX
Dax or DAX may refer to:
Business and organizations
* DAX, stock market index of the top 40 German companies
** DAX 100, an expanded index of 100 stocks, superseded by the HDAX
** TecDAX, stock index of the top 30 German technology firms
* Dax ...
stock market index, and listed in the
MDAX
The MDAX is a stock index which lists German companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The index is calculated by Deutsche Börse.
Until 2021 included the 60 Prime Standard shares from sectors that rank immediately below (in value of mar ...
.
Divisions
German-language free-to-air and pay-TV channels
Former channels
sonnenklar.TV was sold to BigXtra in September 2005. The pan-Nordic
C More Entertainment
C More Entertainment AB is a pay television company that previously operated as Canal+. It targets Nordic countries and has a separate channel in Sweden (C More Film).
The main competitors of C More Entertainment are Viasat Film and Viasat Sp ...
pay-TV operation (15 linear TV channels) was sold to
TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to:
*TV4 (Poland), a private Polish television station
*TV4 (Sweden), a Swedish television network
**TV4 Group, owners of the Swedish television station
*South African Broadcasting Corporation TV4, a channel operated by the st ...
in January 2009. 9Live was a commercial German participation TV channel launched on 1 September 2001 and lasted until 9 August 2011. Sat.1 Comedy was replaced by
Sat.1 Emotions
Sat.1 emotions is a ProSiebenSat.1 Media pay-TV channel. It started broadcasting on May 3, 2012 at 8:15 pm. It replaced Sat.1 Comedy. ProSiebenSat.1 Media also operates the two pay-TV channels kabel eins classics and ProSieben Fun.
Sat.1 emotion ...
in 2012.
Red Arrow Studios
In 2010, the company combined its various production subsidiaries into the . The group includes Studio71, which was started in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
in 2013 as a German-language
multi-channel network
A multi-channel network (MCN) is an organization that works with video platforms to offer assistance to a channel owner in areas such as "product, programming, funding, cross-promotion, partner management, digital rights management, monetizat ...
by Sebastian Weil and Ronald Horstman, and later acquired an American competitor, Collective Digital Studio. In January 2017, the French TF1 and Italian
Mediaset
Mediaset Italia S.p.A., also known as Mediaset, is an Italian-based mass media company which is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE - MediaForEurope. Founded in 1987 by former ...
networks acquired a 30% stake in Studio71.
In December 2017, Studio71 and over 15 other companies were merged to create Red Arrow Studios.
In 2020, Red Arrow Entertainment purchased a majority interest in the US company,
Gravitas Ventures
Gravitas Ventures is an independent film distribution company owned by Anthem Sports and Entertainment. The company was founded by Nolan Gallagher in Los Angeles, California in 2006 and moved its headquarters to Cleveland, Ohio in 2019, where it f ...
, a Cleveland, Ohio-based distributor of independent films and documentaries, primarily as video on demand (VOD). Gravitas maintained its management and staff and continues to operate independently and will cooperate with Red Arrow International, the company's distribution operation.
Divisions and partial subsidiaries include:
*Fabrik Entertainment (United States)
*
Gravitas Ventures
Gravitas Ventures is an independent film distribution company owned by Anthem Sports and Entertainment. The company was founded by Nolan Gallagher in Los Angeles, California in 2006 and moved its headquarters to Cleveland, Ohio in 2019, where it f ...
(United States;
independent film
An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...
distributor
A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...
NERD
A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly tec ...
(United Kingdom)
*CPL Productions (United Kingdom)
**Nit Television (joint venture with
Harry Hill
Matthew Keith Hall (born 1 October 1964), known professionally as Harry Hill, is an English comedian, presenter and writer. He pursued a career in stand-up following years working as a medical doctor, developing an off-beat, energetic performan ...
)
*Snowman Productions (Denmark)
*
Endor Productions
Hilary Bevan Jones is a British television producer. In 1994 she started Endor Productions, choosing the name from that of the novel ''The Road to Endor'' by E. H. Jones, her grandfather.
**Redseven Brand & Digital Studio
*Ripple Entertainment (United States)
*Band of Outsiders (United States)
*Dorsey Pictures (United States)
*Cove Pictures (United Kingdom/United States; joint venture with Smuggler, Inc.)
*10Fold (United States; joint venture with Craig Armstrong and Rick Ringbakk)
*44 Blue Productions (United States)
*Mad Rabbit (Canada/United States; joint venture with
Kari Skogland
Kari Skogland is a Canadian filmmaker. In 2016, she co-founded independent production company Mad Rabbit. Her most recent project is the '' Falcon and the Winter Soldier'' television series for Marvel Studios.
Career
Skogland started as an edito ...
)
eCommerce
The company formed NuCom in 2018, and soon after sold a 24.9% stake to
General Atlantic
General Atlantic (also known as "GA") is an American growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for global growth companies, headquartered in New York, United States. The firm was founded in 1980 as the captive investment team for ...
, a
private equity firm
A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leve ...
. In October 2018 Nucom bought
eHarmony
Eharmony (styled eHarmony) is an online dating website launched in 2000. eHarmony is based in Los Angeles, California, and owned by Nucom ecommerce, a joint venture of German mass media company ProSiebenSat.1 Media and American private equity ...
, an American
dating website
Online dating, also known as Internet dating, Virtual dating, or Mobile app dating, is a relatively recent method used by people with a goal of searching for and interacting with potential romantic or sexual partners, via the internet. An onlin ...
; it already held 94% of the similar German platform
Parship
Parship (or Parship GmbH) is an online dating agency based in Hamburg, Germany. It was part of the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. Its stated goal is to encourage and forge long-term partnerships.
History
Founded in 2000, Parship went on ...