Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland To Acquire Full Ownership Of Super RTL
Mediengruppe RTL is acquiring the 50-percent stake in Super RTL held by the Walt Disney Company. This will make it the sole shareholder of the Cologne-based children's channel. The transaction is subject to approval by Germany's Federal Cartel Office and Austria's Federal Competition Authority, and is expected to close in the course of 2021.
Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland is acquiring the 50-percent stake in Super RTL held by The Walt Disney Company, thereby increasing its stake in Super RTL to 100 percent. Bernd Reichart, CEO of Mediengruppe RTL, and Claude Schmit, Managing Director of Super RTL, personally informed the team of the children's channel during a virtual live meeting this morning. The transaction is subject to approval by Germany's Federal Cartel Office and Austria's Federal Competition Authority and will be registered with the relevant media authority. The transaction is expected to close in the course of 2021.
In the press release distributed today, Bernd Reichart says: “As a co-founder and long-time co-shareholder, we are delighted to welcome Super RTL fully into Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland. With Super RTL’s strong TV and digital expertise and our agile corporate culture, we will jointly be able to shape our digital agenda even more efficiently and quickly in the future. We look forward to even closer working relationships with the highly professional team we are already very familiar with.”
As soon as the relevant antitrust authorities have given the go-ahead for the transaction, a team of managers from Mediengruppe RTL and Super RTL will jointly begin planning the specifics of the transition. “We will build our future together, strategically, both in content and organization. It will be a concentrated process. We will learn from each other and will, ultimately, become even better, faster and more successful,” said Bernd Reichart. “The fact that we already work closely together in many ways, and have known each other well for decades, creates the very best conditions for this. I am very pleased we can get going with Claude and his management team following the necessary approval.” He added: “In the past, the Super RTL team has proven impressively how they can keep reinventing themselves, showing innovation and creativity in a tough competitive environment.”
Commenting on the changes, Claude Schmit said: Given the current market developments, this step is consistent and logical: in future, we will think and act even more as one company. Trust and cooperation already exist between our teams, and also between Bernd and myself, and is the ideal basis for the future. At the same time, I would like to thank the Disney team for an exciting and successful time in a constellation that is certainly anything but ordinary.”
Super RTL was set up in 1995 as a joint venture between RTL Group and The Walt Disney Company, each with a 50-percent stake. In addition to its own linear TV channels, Super RTL also distributes its content as a digital content hub via digital platforms such as Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland’s streaming service TV Now, as well as via other apps, websites, and on the radio. Super RTL also licenses and sells a broad portfolio of merchandising products.
