2024-04-16 13:34:41
Media major shareholder vs. TV company
Is ProSiebenSat.1 now Italian?
Status: 16.04.2024 | Reading time: 4 minutes
Huhu, Munich: MFE boss Pier Silvio Berlusconi
Quelle: Marco Canoniero/Sportphoto24/picture alliance
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A dispute over the strategy of the German media group ProSiebenSat.1 is approaching its climax. The Italian co-owner MFE, led by Pier Silvio Berlusconi, is calling for a split. The Italians apparently already have financing for a complete takeover.
For many viewers, the media company ProSiebenSat.1 is Stefan Raab’s former station, figureheads are Joko and Klaas, Heidi Klum, masked singers and a few other show greats. There was just a bit of trouble because of the moderator Elton, who is no longer with ProSieben can be seen, presumably because it is on RTL’s program too often.
However, this is only a small matter compared to the conflicts that ProSiebenSat.1 as a company has had to deal with in recent years and probably still has to deal with. In the past three years, the share price has fallen between 60 and 70 percent. On the one hand, this has to do with external factors: many media companies are struggling with declining advertising sales, political crises and digitalization have negative effects on traditional advertising revenue, the main source of income for private broadcasters.
On the other hand, ProSiebenSat.1 has lost its footing due to frequent changes at the top of management, a late turn to investing in its own content and a strategic spiraling course, also through its own fault. One of P7S1’s major shareholders is the Italian media group Media for Europe (MFE). He first joined in 2019 and now holds shares of almost 30 percent, just below the threshold at which a takeover offer would have to be made to all shareholders. MFE has been calling for a change in strategy for some time.
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Behind MFE is Pier Silvio Berlusconi, who now leads the former Mediaset group, which his father made big, and has since navigated a more politically moderate course. Strategically, he wants to form a European media group – because only such a formation has a chance of being able to keep up with streaming giants like Netflix and Disney in Europe. That is why MFE is also pushing for the spin-off of ProSiebenSat.1 subsidiaries that have nothing to do with the core business, including dating portals and the comparison service Verivox.
Showdown am 30. April
The annual general meeting of ProSiebenSat.1 is coming up on April 30th and twice as many candidates are currently applying for three open positions on the supervisory board. Including additional direct or associated candidates from MFE and beyond Großinvestor PPF, a Czech investment company. At ProSiebenSat.1 it is unofficially said that MFE wants to take power “through the back door”, i.e. control over the supervisory board, whose chairman is the media manager Andreas Wiele, strengthen. And thereby exert pressure. Possibly even being able to carry out the scenario of splitting up the group – a corresponding application has been submitted (although the chances of success are rather low).
Bert Habets is CEO of ProSiebenSat.1.
Quelle: Stanley Gontha/PRO SHOTS/picture alliance
It was also recently said that MFE could demand a lot, but the group and its CEO Bert Habets would not support a split of the business between the media business and digital investments such as Parship. Otherwise, Habets has, on balance, come very close to MFE’s strategy. This envisages a complete concentration on streaming and television; the other businesses should not be separated but sold from the existing group in order to reduce debt and invest in the core business. This variant is favored by the supervisory board and management.
Despite all the pressure, according to the recent forecast, a takeover of P7S1 by MFE is not realistic because it would require a lot of money that the Italians do not have. The answer came last Monday evening. The Reuters news agency reported that MFE had held discussions with various banks and was in a position to make a purchase worth four billion euros. Realistically, however, only after getting rid of the non-media investments. With a current market capitalization of around 1.8 billion euros, the assumption of debts currently amounting to around 2.1 billion euros would also have to be financed (which would of course decrease if there were sales).
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So is the Munich media group becoming Italian in order to grow into a real European television conglomerate with the Spanish television subsidiary? That has not yet been decided. It is of course no coincidence that the speculation about loans became public before the general meeting. On the one hand, from MFE’s point of view, it actually seems reasonable to consider a takeover, and on the other hand, the news reinforces the threat to the P7S1 management to pursue the strategy they want to implement more quickly than before.
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It is also no coincidence that ProSiebenSat.1 published its first quarter balance sheet earlier than expected – sales increased and so did operating profit. Both sides – corporate management and investors – need good arguments for the general meeting. And shareholders naturally demand change, especially when things aren’t going well or fast enough. After the proposal to split P7S1, the share price jumped. The departure of a moderator is really a side note.
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