Mediawan acquires Plan B Entertainment, Brad Pitt’s production company

The French group has taken control of the company by issuing Mediawan shares. The three founders of Plan B Entertainment, Dede Gardner, Jermey Kleiner and Brad Pitt, will thus become shareholders and enter the capital of the French group with just under 10% of the shares.

Thanks to this privileged partnership and this large-scale action, Mediawan is preparing to enter the American market in full swing. The French group has launched several entrepreneurial initiatives on the other side of the Atlantic in recent months, including the creation of the Blue Morning Pictures production company in California, in partnership with Florian Zeller - director of the Bafta and Golden Globe award-winning The Father.

Already well established in the European film market, Mediawan now wants to bring all its activities in the US market under one company and Plan B is the ideal platform for this, due to its independence and innovative spirit. 

The American production company has already distinguished itself several times in the world of cinema, producing major works that have been very positively received by the public and by critics: Terence Malick's The Tree of Life and Martin Scorsese's The Departed. Today, Brad Pitt's company has a catalogue of some 50 films and series to its credit, as well as eight Oscar nominations.

According to an article published by the Financial Times, the financial transaction will see the participation of various Mediawan shareholders (Bpifrance and Société Générale among others) and will result in a capital increase that will bring the valuation of the American company to 300 million dollars.

Mediawan was created seven years ago on the initiative of Xavier Niel (Free, Le Monde press group), Matthieu Pigasse (CEO of the investment bank Lazard) and the Norman entrepreneur Pierre Antoine Capton. It has a turnover of around one billion euros and 1500 employees. Some sixty production labels revolve around the group. Mediawan's successes include the French series Dix Pour Cent and the crime film Bac Nord.