ProSiebenSat.1 Shareholders Narrowly Reject Plan To Split Up German TV Giant

Jesse Whittock
·2-min read

ProSiebenSat.1 Media’s shareholders have narrowly voted to reject a plan that would have seen the business split up.

Majority minority shareholders MediaForEurope (MFE) and PFF IM had called for management at the German TV giant to explore a proposal to separate the core broadcasting and content business from its Commerce & Ventures and Dating & Video segments.

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However, at the company’s annual general meeting today the motion did not get the required support, with shareholders supporting management’s plan to keep the business together and focus on its Entertainment operation, centered around streamer Joyn. A plan to change the capital structure also failed to receive the necessary 75% support.

Despite, an MFE spokesperson said the Italian company was “pleased” with the support for its proposals, claiming a “large majority” had supported them. “Although the motion on the spin-off valuation was formally not passed, more than 70% of the shareholders voted for it,” they added.

The Berlusconi-family controlled MFE (formerly Mediaset) had submitted a series of motions ahead of the AGM. ProSieben’s management had immediately rejected them, saying they were not in shareholders’ interests.

However, Czechia-based PFF was successful in adding Christoph Mainusch, a former RTL and PFF-owned CME boss, to the ProSieben board. MFE was also successful in adding former Italian Citibank investment banker Leopoldo Attolico and former EY auditor Simone Scettri.

Senior CME exec Klára Brachtlová is already on the supervisory board and has now been confirmed in the post, with former Discovery international chief Majorie Kaplan and Rolf Nonnenmacher. Katharine Beherends, MFE’s boss in German-speaking Europe is already on the supervisory board, which Chairman Andreas Wiele leads.

MFE was also able to reject a proposal to restructure around Joyn, as that streamer would sit directly under the ProSiebenSat.1 Media parent company and above Seven.One Entertainment. That would have placed networks and other platforms under Joyn.

“We expect the management of ProSiebenSat.1 and the supervisory board in this new composition to get to work immediately to achieve tangible results that will increase the value of the company for the benefit of all shareholders,” said the MFE spokesperson.

“We are pursuing a clear strategy,” said ProSieben group CEO Bert Habets today. “We are focusing on our entertainment expertise. We are putting Joyn at the center. We are leveraging the potential of partnerships. And we are developing new forms of monetization. We are therefore on the right path to becoming the number 1 entertainment player in the German-speaking region.”

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