Final bids for Brad Pitt's production company were due last week. Several people close to the talks say Mediawan, a private-equity backed French firm, is the likely winner.@BenoitBerthelot https://t.co/toSUge6Jqs
— Lucas Shaw (@Lucas_Shaw) October 31, 2022
Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, the production company behind films like Moonlight and The Big Short, is in talks to sell a significant stake to French conglomerate Mediawan https://t.co/hpwBEVmEOL
— Bloomberg (@business) October 31, 2022
Actor Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, the production company behind films like Moonlight and The Big Short, is in talks to sell a significant stake to French media conglomerate Mediawan, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The company has received bids from a few potential investors, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private negotiations. Mediawan, which has been backed by KKR & Co., is the front-runner. Plan B is expected to make a final decision in the next couple of weeks. Talks could still fall apart, and another bidder could still win.
Spokespeople for Plan B and Mediawan declined to comment.
Investors have been looking to put money into independent production companies to take advantage of the growing demand for original programming. Companies affiliated with a big star -- like Pitt -- have proved especially desirable. Pitt founded Plan B in 2001 alongside his then wife Jennifer Aniston and manager Brad Grey. The company, run day-to-day by Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, has carved out a niche as a producer of award-winning films and has a deal to make TV shows for Amazon.com Inc.
Last year, Reese Witherspoon sold a majority stake in her Hello Sunshine operation to a Blackstone-backed media venture led by Walt Disney Co. veterans in a deal that valued the business at $900 million. A production company created by LeBron James was valued at $725 million in the sale of a minority stake to RedBird Capital Partners, Nike Inc. and Epic Games Inc.
Mediawan’s businesses range from TV to cinema production and content distribution. It was founded in 2015 as a SPAC by French TV producer Pierre-Antoine Capton, telecom billionaire Xavier Niel and Centerview Partners banker Matthieu Pigasse.
A deal would give the Paris-based company a footprint in the US with producers who provide programming to HBO, Amazon Studios and Netflix Inc., among others. This year’s projects from Plan B include the HBO Max film Father of the Bride and the Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde on Netflix.
Mediawan has grown through acquisitions in Europe and was taken private by its founders in December 2020, along with investors such as KKR. The deal was valued at €657.6 million, including €274.5 million euros in net debt.
The company has about €1 billion euros ($1 billion) in annual revenue.
Sept. 26, Paris
with Xavier Niel and his wife, Delphine Arnault
