Vivendi, the parent company of Canal Plus and Universal Music Group, has entered into exclusive negotiations with Gruner + Jahr/Bertelsmann for the 100% acquisition of Prisma Media, a leading publishing group in France.
“This acquisition would fit perfectly with Vivendi’s strategy as a leading media, content and communications group and complement the scope of its existing activities,” Vivendi said in a press release. The company said the pact would also “offer interesting opportunities for collaboration within the group and the development of the high-quality Prisma Media publications.”
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Vivendi has strengthened its position in publishing in recent years by acquiring Editis, a major French-language publishing group, and recently acquired a 26.7% stake in Lagardere, a publishing and retail group whose major assets include Hachette Livre, the largest publisher in France and the third largest specialist and educational publisher in the world.
The deal with Prisma is subject to regulatory approval, consultations with representative bodies and the completion of legal documentation.
Prisma Media is active in the print and digital landscape with 20 leading magazine brands, from Femme Actuelle to GEO, as well as Capital, Gala and Télé-Loisirs. The group’s brands reach 42 million people in France every month through subscriptions or online content. Prisma Media is a subsidiary of Gruner + Jahr, a Bertelsmann Group company.
Earlier this year, Vivendi also participated in the acquisition of Endemol Shine by the Banijay Group and now owns a 32.9 percent stake in the merged company, which is considered the largest television producer and distributor outside the United States.
Over the weekend, Italian prosecutors filed charges against former Vivendi chairman Vincent Bolloré and current CEO Arnaud De Puyfontaine as part of an investigation. They are accused of market manipulation. The accusation stems from legal disputes triggered by the collapse of the pay-TV deal between Vivendi and Mediaset in 2016.
Vivendi reported a 2.4% increase in its consolidated revenue to 11.6 billion euros (14.1 billion US dollars) in the first nine months of 2020 and a 1.3% increase in the third quarter.
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