Mediawan

Mediawan is a French media conglomerate. It was founded in December 2015 by Xavier Niel (founder of Free), Matthieu Pigasse (general director of the bank Lazard and, with Xavier Niel, a major stock holder in Le Monde and L'Obs) and Pierre-Antoine Capton (founder of the French media production company Troisième Œil Productions) under the legal form of a special-purpose acquisition company ("SPAC") with the purpose to acquire assets and operations in the media production and distribution business in Europe. Their ambition for the company was to become "one of the largest platforms for European content".

History
Mediawan was founded in December 2015 as an acquisition service, with the company's plan was to form an audiovisual international group through acquisitions across France and Europe in the entertainment or media industries.

The company went public on April 22, 2016, raising €250 million ($310 million).

In July 2016, Mediawan acquired CC&C, a film production company specializing in documentaries.

In January 2017, Mediawan acquired AB Groupe for €270 million. Before that AB Groupe was owned by Claude Berda (53%) and TF1 Group (33.5%).

In December 2017, it was reported that Mediawan was in talks for acquiring a stake of up to 55% in Aton Soumache and Dimitri Rassam’s animation studio ON Kids & Family (including Method Animation) for about €50 million.

In January 2018, Mediawan acquired the French television division of Luc Besson's EuropaCorp and renamed into Storia Television.

On 6 June 2018, Mediawan announced that its acquisition of a 53.53% stake in ON Entertainment was finalized

On 11 October 2018, Mediawan rebranded AB Groupe as Mediawan Thematics.

In January 2019, Mediawan announced their acquisition of a 53% stake in Italian producer Palomar, marking Mediawan's first acquisition outside of France.

In October 2019, Mediawan announced that there buying a majority stake in French film production company Radar Films.

On 22 June 2020, Mediawan launched their creation of Mediawan Alliance buying a minority stake in Leonine Holding and announced their intent to buy Lagardère Studios from the Lagardère Group along with Spanish-based producer Good Mood for €100 million. The sale was completed on November 2 of that same year.

In July 2021, Mediawan announced that they formally renamed Mediawan Alliance as Mediawan & Leonine Studios with their joint acquisition of a majority stake in British-based drama producer Drama Republic. Later that month Mediawan announced their acquisition of a majority stake in Chi-Fou-Mi Productions.

On 30 October 2022, it was reported that Mediawan was in talks to acquiring in a significant stake Brad Pitt's studio Plan B Entertainment.

In April 2023, Mediawan had announced that they brought a majority stake in Dutch-based animation production company Submarine.

In July 2023, Mediawan announced their acquisition of a majority stake in French film production company 24 25 Films.

On 16 January 2024, Mediawan announced they brought a majority stake in British-based documentary production company Misfits Entertainment, expanding Mediawan's factual output.

In April 2024, Mediawan which already helded a 25% minority stake in Germany-based film distribution company Leonine Holding since 2020 announced that their taking full control of Leonine Holding by acquiring the remaining stakes in the company, also owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, in an all-stock deal, with pending subject to be approved from German authorities.