Shipping and logistics group CMA CGM is interested in developing its growing media business outside France, Chairman and CEO Rodolphe Saade said on Thursday.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
CMA CGM and its CEO have emerged as leading players in the French media landscape in the past two years. Drawing on massive profits from a post-COVID shipping boom, CMA CGM has bought several newspapers, a stake in television broadcaster M6 and agreed to buy Altice Media, which owns rolling news channel BFM TV.
KEY QUOTES
“I am open to international expansion. I would like (…), once the integration of Altice Media has been completed, for us to also look into investments abroad,” Saade said.
“In a highly competitive context I will give Altice Media the means to continue to develop. Our first task will be to allow BFM to become the leading news channel again,” he also said during a hearing at French media regulator Arcom.
CONTEXT
Saade, who controls CMA CGM with other family members, attempted to buy M6 in 2022 as part of a consortium before M6’s owner Bertelsmann scrapped its plan to sell.
His proposed 1.55 billion euro ($1.69 billion) deal to acquire Altice Media from debt-laden telecoms group Altice would give him control of BFM TV as well as popular radio station RMC.
Saade has been portrayed as a rival to fellow billionaire Vincent Bollore, who owns the right-wing channel CNews that last month overtook BFM as France’s most-watched news channel.
Saade, who began his foray into media by acquiring local daily La Provence in Marseille where CMA CGM is based, has said he is in favour of nuanced news coverage.