ProSiebenSat.1 Media is eliminating 430 roles at the cost of “mid to high double-digit million euros,” as the battle for the German TV giant’s future continues.
The redundancies come as part of ProSieben’s transformation to a digital-first business focused on entertainment. The aim is to “streamline the process structure and increase cost efficiency,” ProSieben said in announcing the cuts.
ProSieben is under pressure from major shareholders MediaForEurope (MFE), which launched a lowball takeover offer back in March, and PFF, who both consider the speed of change to be too slow. Both have representatives on the ProSieben board, but appear to want more active roles in its management.
The approximate 430 full-time job cuts will be “carried out in a socially responsible manner through a voluntary redundancy program,” which will follow talks with employee representatives and look likely to be begin shortly in “second quarter of 2025.”
ProSieben claims the €50M ($57M)+ set aside for the restructuring will have “no impact on the adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income, but will result in a one-time charge to net income and free cash flow.”
“We have a clear strategy and are implementing it consistently,” said ProSiebenSat.1 Group CEO Bert Habets. “At the same time, the economic environment remains very challenging for us. This makes it all the more important that we continually strengthen our competitiveness and improve our cost structure.
“Against this backdrop, the announced job cuts are a difficult but necessary decision. In order to adapt to the profound structural change in the media industry and return to sustainable growth, we must become even faster, more efficient, and more digital. With our new structure and the planned measures, we are setting the course for this.”
The Unterföhring-based company is currently subject to a lowball public tender offer from leading shareholder MFE, which appears to have a markedly different vision of the future to the current board. The takeover push would allow MFE to gradually take a larger stake in ProSieben than its current 30%.
MFE and another key shareholder, Czech investment group PFF, have been piling pressure on Habets and his management group, saying transformation needs to occur faster. PFF CEO Jiri Smejc yesterday told local reporters that it had not yet seen MFE’s offer but added: “Wherever we are, we want to play a more active role. Our next steps will depend on that.”
MFE — which is led by Pier Silvio Berlusconi, son of the late Italian prime minister and media mogul – and PFF have been urging ProSieben to divest its non-core assets and focus on entertainment, which is the narrative the existing management have been building.
In March, the company announced it was selling e-commerce platform Verivox in an agreement that saw it buy the minority stakes of U.S.-based private investor General Atlantic in dating platform ParshipMeet and digital firm NuCom Group (excluding perfume e-retailer Flaconi). General Atlantic took a 2.5% stake in ProSieben at the same time. ProSieben is now in process of selling Verivox to Italian company Moltiply and is planning to divest dating service ParshipMeet and other non-core digital services.
MFE, owner of Mediaset in Italy and Spain, wants to build a European TV giant that can stand up to U.S. streaming services.
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