RedBird IMI Deal for All3Media Closes
Jeff Zucker and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird IMI on Thursday closed its £1.15 billion ($1.45 billion) acquisition of TV and film production powerhouse All3Media, the largest TV producer in the U.K., from Warner Bros. Discovery and Liberty Global. The company is behind such shows as the reality/competition series The Traitors and Squid Game: The Challenge, drama series The Tourist, and such films as World War I epic 1917.
Regulators in the U.S., the U.K. and Germany approved the deal.
Early this year, RedBird IMI acquired a stake in Media Res, the studio behind the Apple TV+ shows The Morning Show and Pachinko, founded by former HBO executive Michael Ellenberg. The addition of All3Media gives RedBird IMI an expanded production business. It also owns the unscripted production company EverWonder Studios, the children’s entertainment company Hidden Pigeon Company, and the digital news outlet Front Office Sports.
Last week, Redbird IMI CEO Zucker said during an appearance at a Wall Street Journal event in London that while RedBird IMI has built “a very nice portfolio on the entertainment content side,” there was more room for further acquisitions that bring in more quality content. He also expressed interest in deals in the news and information space, especially for digital companies.
Zucker is now the chairman of the board of All3Media, which will continue to be led by CEO Jane Turton and chief operating officer Sara Geater. All3Media owns more than 50 production banners in the U.S., U.K., Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and New Zealand. Among them are Sam Mendes’ Neal Street Productions (Call the Midwife, Britannia, Penny Dreadful, Empire of Light), Two Brothers Pictures (Fleabag, The Widow, The Tourist), and documentaries maker Raw (The Tinder Swindler) in the U.K.; Germany’s Filmpool (The Real Life); U.K.- and L.A.-based Studio Lambert (Undercover Boss, The Traitors); and All3Media America (Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back).
In 2014, Liberty Global and what was then Discovery agreed to buy All3Media in a transaction with an enterprise value of about $930 million.
