In the end, the Banijay–All3Media mega-merger felt far more like a coming together of France’s biggest production group and Jeff Zucker‘s RedBird IMI. “You can have my house and we will give you hundreds of millions to own the street together,” is the way one informed source characterized the financial pact between Stéphane Courbit’s European giant and the Jeff Zucker-led private equity investor.
The deal, which has created an $8B production behemoth backed by capital from Europe, the U.S. and the Middle East, will see the end of the storied All3Media brand after 23 years. Its demise has sparked a feeling of melancholy for many in the UK, where it was founded by a group of former ITV execs – who were ironically escaping a round of consolidation at the British broadcaster.
It was this week notable that Banijay boss Marco Bassetti and RedBird IMI’s Zucker led the media rounds in the hours after it was announced, with Bassetti taking on the CEO role of the newly-combined group and All3Media boss Jane Turton becoming his deputy. Former CNN boss Zucker, whose RedBird IMI has stakes in Media Res and Artists Equity, is chairman.
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When the mega-merger completes this fall, the newly-combined Banijay will comprise 170 production labels worldwide, the majority in the UK, including The Traitors maker Studio Lambert, Peaky Blinders producer Kudos and Neal Street, which is making Sam Mendes’ Beatles movies. The sales arm, which is readying itself for cuts, will have a catalog featuring 260,000 hours of content.
A day after the deal closed, Turton held a town hall in the morning for All3Media staff (not its labels, which operate in a more federal structure than Banijay). Several hours later, Banijay UK boss Patrick Holland did the same at the indie’s West London HQ. Other Banijay territory heads communicated with local staffers, and Banijay Rights CEO Cathy Payne also had a call with her team, with most of the discussion clarifying the language of the announcement.
We are told both Turton and Holland sought to reassure staff, pointing out that Bassetti and Zucker had committed to protecting creatives and labels. The message at All3’s camp, we hear, was restricted to talk of “creating scale and quality.” Despite this, the mood in the All3Media and Banijay camps was quite different in the hours after news of the deal broke. Banijay, All3 and RedBird IMI declined to comment for this article.
Mixed Moods
One All3Media staffer summed up this feeling. “There is mega anxiety,” they said. A second person within the group had more questions than answers, amid nervousness around how the takeover will shake out.
A third, who runs an All3Media label, told us they were “saddened” by the news. This person said it has always felt like there is a “different culture” between the two former rivals. They pointed to All3’s federal structure, under which Turton takes a light-touch approach with the labels, although there is a feeling this has changed somewhat since RedBird IMI bought All3.
“Jane and [All3Media COO] Sara [Geater] might get involved if there’s a big problem but that feels different to Banijay,” said the label boss. “The echoes of RDF loom large,” they added, referencing Banijay shuttering the storied British unscripted label after it acquired the other big beast of the indie production world, Endemol Shine Group, earlier this decade.
Creatives and producers were anxious, even though Bassetti reassured them, via an interview with Deadline, that he is steadfastly committed to this side of the business. “We want to keep all our talent, all our creative labels as they are now. We want to give them more,” he said, flagging that the €50M ($58M) of synergies identified by the companies will be identified in distribution, property and back office.
One former All3Media label boss was not so sure. “I give it a year and then he comes for the labels,” he predicted, noting that RedBird IMI had been quietly making cuts across the All3Media group in the run-up to the deal. A source close to RedBird IMI defended its approach, saying that Zucker sees an incredible talent pool across both Banijay and All3, and that the 50/50 nature of the JV means equal opportunities on both sides.
In contrast to All3, Banijay label execs were more optimistic. “From a Banijay perspective, it very much feels a case of them joining us,” said one source at the company. “We have a bigger footprint and it’s Marco who has become CEO.”
Another suggests things could improve for Banijay labels after the deal completes. “It feels good,” they added. “We will be part of a substantial and strong group of producers that aren’t owned by a huge American studio, which I think we need in this landscape. There may be synergies, but to be honest, we’ve been through lots of refinements already on the Banijay side [since buying Endemol Shine].”
Conditions of the merger mean Banijay and All3 must keep their powder dry in terms of structure until after the deal closes despite some chatter that senior exec plans were being drawn up over coming weeks. “Staff are sitting tight right now,” said one source close to the company.
Banijay certainly appears the winner in the merger, with RedBird IMI paying Banijay more than €600M to bring its stake to 50%, but there is a certain degree of fatigue with the company, with long-serving staffers having already gone through the process in 2016, when it merged with Zodiak Media, and 2020, when Endemol Shine joined the party. Some senior staff could be tempted to negotiate exit packages, but we understand Banijay’s LTIP (long-term incentive plan) deadline has passed, closing off this avenue.
A number of All3Media executives did note that they were looking forward to working with Banijay’s Holland, the former BBC Two Controller who has been impactful since joining as UK chief, supercharging scripted and striking splashy talent deals with the likes of James Norton and Akala.
Speculation is widespread he will land an expanded senior creative role, perhaps something akin to a Chief Creative Officer post. His work is known to already expand beyond the UK, and he has been involved with decision-making in Europe in several situations, with Bassetti trusting of his British lieutenant.
Surprise At Deputy Turton
If Holland were to be handed the creative reins of all UK labels, he would be a big winner in the merger. Sources within the group are not saying the same of Turton, with eyebrows being raised at her settling for the deputy CEO role, particularly after a period in which it was widely believed that All3 was starved of the investment she desired under RedBird IMI. It has been suggested she and the RedBird IMI team have not always seen eye to eye, though other sources refute that characterization.
Turton commands huge respect in the UK industry and is seen as a highly capable leader who has been consistently linked to bigger jobs (she was touted as a candidate to lead the BBC, but is now out of the running after signing for Banijay). In the end, it has surprised some that she has settled for a role in which she is no longer calling the shots.
Two sources said Turton would likely have received a pay incentive as part of the deal, with one person saying Banijay considered her to be an important figure in smoothing the ground post-takeover. This source said she was central to keeping All3Media creative leaders happy. “A lot of these companies have worked with her for many years, and maybe even joined All3Media because of her. I think they would have been very put off if she hadn’t stayed,” this person said.
The ex-All3Media label boss suggested Turton may also want to stay on alongside close confidantes Geater and distribution chief Louise Pedersen until the trio are ready to exit. When Banijay bought Endemol Shine, senior Endemol executives like Peter Salmon and Lucinda Hicks didn’t depart immediately, but after a few months.
Distribution Cuts
Pedersen, another highly-respected industry exec, is likely to be vying for the top sales job with Banijay Rights boss Cathy Payne, with highly-rated Banijay EMEA sales chief Matt Creasey also in the running, according to a source with knowledge of that process. Unlike on the creative label side, Banijay signaled a desire to slash the new sales arm during a call with analysts and press on Wednesday morning. Banijay’s annual results, published a day after the call, showed a 7% decline in the sales arm’s full-year revenue.
All3Media International, All3’s sales wing, is much smaller than Banijay Rights, with catalogs of circa-35,000 and 220,000 hours, respectively. However, there is little doubt in sources’ minds that Pedersen could handle the task of bringing the two libraries together, and one source questioned whether Payne would want to go through the procedure for a third time – having done so when Endemol Shine and Zodiak merged. Creasey, meanwhile, is believed to have been. being nurtured as Payne’s long-term replacement, often stepping in for her at trade events and in major sales talks when the Banijay Rights CEO is unavailable.
Though the two distribution companies sell vastly different sized bounties, they have similar staff numbers, with Banijay’s slightly larger. Given the Banijay leadership’s focus on “eliminating duplication” in the distribution and central office units, cuts could be significant. One senior industry leader summed up the views of many we’ve spoken to, as they said history tells us, “It’s going to be a bloodbath.”
Financing Questions
One clue as to RedBird IMI’s view of All3 came via an illuminating remark from Banijay CEO François Riahi during the Wednesday press call. “RedBird IMI bought All3Media to create this kind of global platform… they realized they could not do it starting with All3, which was smaller than us… so that is why they combined their asset with ours,” he said.
Speaking to the New York Times last week, Zucker said RedBird IMI’s 2024 acquisition of All3 had always been seen as a “good foundation” to grow an independent media empire, which appeared to back up Riahi’s read.
The financing of the deal has raised some eyebrows. In effect, RedBird IMI has paid around well over half a billion dollars to Banijay to roll All3Media into the combined company and take a half-share in the venture. One financial source noted All3’s earnings have slid since RedBird IMI paid a twelve-times multiple on profits of £100M to secure it in 2024 for £1.15B in 2024 – making a merger with Banijay attractive.
On the investor call, Banijay’s chiefs were interrogated by a persistent analyst about the debt level of the new company. The analyst said All3Media’s debt pile of £878M ($1.1B) was “quite significant” and she asked what would happen when this is combined with Banijay Group’s net debt of €2.57B. “Is it going to be reduced?” she asked. Sounding a little impatient, Banijay CFO Sophie Kurinckx-Leclerc said the company expects to “leverage” the debt. She pointed to the cost-cutting planned across the combined entity and a “very strong growth profile and cash generation.” There is also a sense internally that RedBird IMI’s investment is a clear sign to the market that the business will be in rude health on day on of trading.
A former senior Banijay executive noted: “[Banijay] won’t [just] be investing €600M in talent… Banijay always needed to refinance debt, and the cash element RedBird IMI is putting on the table must be very attractive to them.”
This ex-Banijay insider noted that consolidation is the “natural trajectory of the sector,” pointing out that Banijay’s current make-up is a result of the Endemol Shine Group purchase, which in turn was made up of several mergers. “Which super-indie has ever grown organically?” they wondered.
Banijay Entertainment’s revenue has grown around 20% to €3.28B since 2021 — the first full financial year after the Endemol Shine acquisition — though it has bolted on companies including Peaky Blinders producer Caryn Mandabach Productions and The Buccaneers maker The Forge in that time.
Asked by BBC Radio 4’s Today show if the merger was needed for survival, Zucker said scale was vital to attracting and retaining “world-class talent” and competing on a “global scale.” Bigger continues to be seen as better in an environment in which Paramount Skydance is inhaling Warner Bros. Discovery.