Mediawan to Acquire Plan B Stake

Mediawan has entered into an agreement to acquire a significant stake in Plan B Entertainment, co-founded and led by Brad Pitt.

Plan B’s film credits include The Tree of Life, Eat Pray Love, World War Z, 12 Years a Slave, Selma, The Big Short, Moonlight, Okja and Minari. The company has also recently ramped up its television work, with projects that include The Underground Railroad, Outer Range, High School, LEGO Masters, a second season of Feud and the upcoming Three Body Problem.

Pierre-Antoine Capton, CEO and co-founder of Mediawan, said: “This partnership will allow us to create a unique artistic link between Europe and the United States through which we and Plan B will develop premium independent content, providing a global platform on which the world’s greatest talent can continue to thrive. We would like to thank Brad, Dede and Jeremy for their trust and recognition of the world-class content emanating from our work in Europe.”

Plan B partners Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner added: “We have loved working together for nearly two-decades and are incredibly excited about our future. As we enter the next chapter in our evolution, we are excited at the possibilities this partnership affords as we maximize our reach toward an increasingly global audience with a broad range of films and television series across all platforms, genres, and mediums. For our current partner studios, along with those we look forward to working with in the future, we pledge to continue producing new content for audiences everywhere. With the innovative, artistic and producer-centric platform Mediawan has built, we open a window to an even greater number of storytellers, both established masters and the emerging voices that have always excited us.”

The three partners in Plan B also enter the capital of Mediawan as part of the acquisition.
The investment in Plan B will be made via a newly created entity, Mediawan US, which will coordinate Mediawan’s activities and future developments in the U.S. The board of Mediawan US will be chaired by Vania Schlogel, with Pierre-Antoine Capton as CEO.

Mediawan US will hold significant stakes in Plan B as well as in Blue Morning Pictures, the production company launched in 2022 by Mediawan with Oscar-winning filmmakers Florian Zeller and Federica Sainte-Rose.

Vania Schlogel, founder and managing partner at Atwater Capital and future chairwoman of the Mediawan US Board, said: “Plan B has an exceptional track record of supporting and celebrating remarkable global storytellers. For a number of years now, I’ve been fortunate enough to witness first-hand the vision of Pierre-Antoine Capton and the wider Mediawan team as they’ve built one of the most creative and dynamic independent production-distribution groups in the world. I can’t think of a better partner for Plan B as it enters this exciting new phase of growth.”

Philipp Freise, partner and co-head of European private equity at KKR and Franziska Kayser, managing director at KKR, commented: “Under the leadership of Pierre-Antoine, Mediawan has established itself at the center of quality content production in Europe. Building leading businesses in this sector has long been a vision for KKR, with the take private of Mediawan as well as the founding of LEONINE Studios. We are delighted to see Mediawan and Plan B join forces to continue our mission of creating the leading artist-centric global independent content platform, the first of its kind on such an international scale. We welcome Brad, Jeremy and Dede to the shareholdership and look forward to collaborating with them to continue this unique success story.”