PPF wants ProSieben to sell non-core assets, focus on content
14/05/2024 15:00
By Jan Lopatka
PRAGUE, May 14 (Reuters) - German media group
ProSiebenSat.1 PSMGn.DE should forge ahead with selling its
e-commerce and online dating ventures, worth potentially over a
billion euros, and invest more in content, the CEO of its
second-largest shareholder said on Tuesday.
Czech investment group PPF is ProSieben's second largest
shareholder with a 15% stake, after Italy's MFE-MediaForEurope
with nearly 30%. MFE's proposal for ProSieben to spin off the
e-commerce and online dating businesses narrowly failed in a
shareholder vote in April.
PPF CEO Juri Smejc said his company has told ProSieben's
management that it needs to refocus on content.
"The business certainly needs overhauling to refocus on
content creation," Smejc told reporters.
"The company was not optimally managed for a long time. The
company's potential is much bigger than the numbers are showing
today."
Smejc said that PPF acted strictly independently of MFE, and
did not share all MFE's positions.
"When it comes to the company's split, we think that those
assets should be sold. Perhaps unlike shareholders at MFE, we do
not have the feeling that it needs to be done in panic, for it
to be sold next month, but it needs to be properly prepared."
He said it was right that ProSieben has started cutting
costs, and it needs to invest more into content, including
subscription video on demand, where he said ProSieben had
"missed the boat".
Smejc said he could imagine PPF potentially taking a larger
stake in ProSieben.
"It depends on the development of the share price and on how
management succeeds in overhauling the firm," he said.
PPF owns the CME television business that has stations in
six central and eastern European countries with 49 million
viewers, and has pushed ahead with video on demand services. It
has also acquired a 29.33% stake in Swedish streaming group
Viaplay VPLAYb.ST .
The group, owned by the family of deceased founder Petr
Kellner, has been shifting interest away from Asia and Russia to
Western markets, a trend represented by the ProSieben stake and
which PPF aims to continue.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka
Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
((jan.lopatka@thomsonreuters.com; +420 234 721 614; Reuters
Messaging: jan.lopatka.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))