Yahoo Movies Brad Pitt’s Plan B Sells Majority Stake to French Company Mediawan
Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B Entertainment is selling a 60 percent majority stake to the French media giant Mediawan in a deal that values the film company behind “Moonlight” and “12 Years a Slave” in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The news was formally announced late Friday after news of the deal broke early Friday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but CNBC, which first reported the news, reported that Plan B is said to be worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars range but below $500 million.
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Plan B first announced an intention to explore a sale of its assets or an investor back in October, and the sale is the latest example in a wave of M&A activity across Hollywood over the last few years. That’s included everything from the sale of Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine to Candle Media to LeBron James selling a minority stake in his SpringHill Company, as well as other rival labels and distributors testing the waters with sales to outside investors.
The investment in Plan B will be made via a newly created entity, Mediawan U.S., which will hold significant stakes in both Plan B and Florian Zeller’s Blue Morning Pictures. The Board of Mediawan U.S. will be chaired by Vania Schlogel, with Mediawan co-founder Pierre-Antoine Capton serving as CEO.
“This partnership will allow us to create a unique artistic link between Europe and the United States through which we and Plan B will develop premium independent content, providing a global platform on which the world’s greatest talent can continue to thrive. We would like to thank Brad, Dede, and Jeremy for their trust and recognition of the world-class content emanating from our work in Europe,” Capton said in a statement.
“We have loved working together for nearly two-decades and are incredibly excited about our future. As we enter the next chapter in our evolution, we are excited at the possibilities this partnership affords as we maximize our reach toward an increasingly global audience with a broad range of films and television series across all platforms, genres, and mediums,” Plan B partners Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner said in a statement. “For our current partner studios, along with those we look forward to working with in the future, we pledge to continue producing new content for audiences everywhere. With the innovative, artistic and producer-centric platform Mediawan has built, we open a window to an even greater number of storytellers, both established masters and the emerging voices that have always excited us.”
Plan B is behind acclaimed films such as this year’s “She Said,” “Blonde,” and “Father of the Bride” as well as other acclaimed titles like “Minari,” “Ad Astra,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” and more. Coming up, Plan B has Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking,” Bong Joon-Ho’s “Mickey 17,” “The Nickel Boys” for MGM’s Orion Pictures, and MGM and director Cory Finley’s “Landscape With Invisible Hand,” which was just announced for a premiere at Sundance.
Plan B has also recently ramped up its television work, including working on Barry Jenkins’ “The Underground Railroad” and “Outer Range,” both for Amazon, as well as the non-scripted “Lego Masters” for FOX. The company is at work on a second season of Ryan Murphy’s “Feud” and “Three Body Problem,” from David Benioff, D.B. Weiss and Alex Woo, for Netflix. The company has both a film deal with MGM and a first-look TV deal with Amazon.
Pitt founded Plan B in 2001 alongside his manager Brad Grey, who passed away in 2015, and his ex-wife Jennifer Aniston. President Dede Gardner and co-president Jeremy Kleiner lead the company.
Mediawan is a French conglomerate that owns over 60 production labels, primarily across Europe, including banners such as Lagardère Studios and the French TV division of EuropaCorp. It’s known for shows like “Call My Agent” for FranceTV and Netflix but also the BBC and Amazon series “The English” with Emily Blunt. On the film side, Mediawan’s brands have backed “The Life Ahead” with Sophia Loren and “Novembre” with Jean Dujardin, as well as the upcoming “Django” for Canal+ and Sky, “One Day” for Netflix, and “The Three Musketeers for Pathé.
The company was co-founded by Pierre-Antoine Capton, Xavier Niel, and Matthieu Pigasse in 2015 and is supported by its founders and its strategic partners, including KKR and Atwater Capital, which is led by Vania Schlogel.
Moelis & Company served as lead financial advisor, Willkie Farr & Gallagher served as legal advisor, and CAA served as advisors to Plan B. Brillstein Entertainment served as advisor to Brad Pitt. Centerview Partners acted as financial advisors and Latham & Watkins acted as legal advisor to Mediawan. BNP Paribas served as advisor to the cofounders of Mediawan. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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