Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter and merger of Warner Bros. With Discovery the most prominent M&A deals of the year, but outside the US, several key developments impacted the global market.
Scroll through the gallery above for a rundown of other M&A deals for 2022.
The agency sat around the world in June when Utah unexpectedly announced the acquisition of British literature and talent agent Curtis Bron. The collection, which our sources speculate, is the first step in the “Americanization” of the British market. Watch out for WME and CAA moves in Europe soon.
UTA wasn’t the only North American company involved in the European management business, as we revealed in March’s Porte des Lions, it has taken a minority stake in London 42 which represents the likes of Jesse Armstrong, Julian Fellowes, Claire Denis and Charlie Brooker.
But not all Americans have acquired European companies. On the contrary in the case of the French media known as the company behind Netflix Call my agentWhen he shocked the world later that year by buying a majority stake in Brad Pitt’s entertainment plan. France has a complex relationship with the international market, although it manages the biggest events in film and television, it is establishing itself as a European powerhouse as Mediawan, Benjamin Asacha Media Group and Newen Connect continue their strong growth and acquisitions.
At the Super Indy ground, Fremantle made headlines. Tasked by parent company RTL to double its revenues to 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) by 2025, he issued That you have talent Maker has captured many notable Indian clubs, including Irish Hot Drama Company Pictures from Producer article from BBC3 and Hulu normal people and the Conversations with friends. Banijay, who has become co-owner of Stéphane Courbit’s FL Entertainment, is in the process of buying an Australian-based producer and distributor. Beyond – on the other hand is international, and has also acquired producers in countries such as Israel.
While ITV Studios invested $103.5m to buy Natural History Maker Plimsoll Productions earlier this year. Then, with Mipcom Cannes in October, reports surfaced claiming that part of ITV’s production and sales arm was up for sale. Nothing concrete followed, and many M&A sources and producers believe the story was merely an excuse designed to remind the stock market how successful ITV Studios – and by extension ITV – has been despite the significant drop in share price this year.
Many other agreements did not materialize. There has been speculation that All3Media may be in the works after parent company Discovery merges with Warner Bros. Pictures. Pictures. , but nothing came of it, and the super indie label remained pretty low for the rest of the year. Next year may bring more clarity.
Perhaps the biggest station was the merger between French broadcasters TF1 and M6, which came close to consolidation until it was dropped by the local market regulator. Management on both sides said the move was a blow in the national networks’ battle against international broadcast competitors, who are gaining more and more momentum in the famously protected French market.
Looking ahead to 2023, there are several deals to watch, including the potential sale of UK-based Hat Trick Productions and Greenbird Media. In the former case All3 and Fremantle are tied, while in the latter one of the emerging European groups is likely to be buyers – another reason we’ll watch Asacha, Mediawan and Germany Night’s train patterns carefully, insiders say. Rumors persist tying Canada’s Cineflix Media to the sale, but nothing definite yet, and Fremantle may continue their negotiating bout, though sources say that may be over for the time being.
