Billionaire Rodolphe Saadé wants to buy the gross media via the CMA CGM media subsidiary

The CMA CGM group of the businessman Rodolphe Saadé has entered into “Exclusive negotiation” In view of the acquisition of the gross online video media, of which he is already a shareholder, according to a press release released on Friday, July 4.

CMA Media, subsidiary of CMA CGM, “Would strengthen his presence in digital with the arrival of crude”Who “Warred as a reference in France and internationally”declares the shipowner Rodolphe Saadé, quoted in the press release. The acquisition of crude “Would be a new step in the construction of a solid, modern and future media group”according to the billionaire.

Present in more than 100 countries, gross “Touch more than 500 million spectators each month” Via YouTube, Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, underlines CMA Media. The Pure Player has raised nearly 140 million euros since its launch in 2016 and has among its shareholders the founder of Free, Xavier Niel, the billionaire François-Henri Pinault, via the Artemis holding company, or Orange, joined in 2023 by the French maritime group CMA CGM.

“We would integrate CMA Media while remaining independent”

Gross, which employs some 250 employees and reorganized in recent years to save money, has been profitable since the last quarter of 2023. “We have been working with CMA CGM for two years, a family group of which we share a lot of values”notes to the Agency France-Presse (AFP) the co-founder and president of Brut, Guillaume Lacroix. “We would integrate CMA Media while remaining independent”he adds, welcoming himself to be able with CMA CGM to project investments, especially in innovation.

Brut already uses artificial intelligence to analyze for example the comments generated by its content. With advertisers, he highlights the mass of data in his possession like the time spent in front of a video, number of views or interactions, in particular on young audiences.

“The founders and the Brut management team would remain fully involved in this new phase”specifies CMA Media, who wants “Preserving DNA” of gross: “A demanding journalism, native formats and a voice committed to major social, environmental and cultural issues”.

The billionaire Rodolphe Saadé has been shaking up for almost three years the French media landscape. CMA CGM became the owner of the La Provence group (daily La Provence and Corsica morning) in October 2022. He then invited himself to the capital of the Audiovisual Group M6 at the end of 2022, then to that of Brut, before taking control of the economic newspaper The platform And to launch a Sunday edition in 2023.

In the summer of 2024, CMA Media bought the BFM-TV info channel, radio RMC and TNT RMC Découverte and RMC Story channels in Altice. In May, the group also announced that it had signed a promise to buy the Cherie 25 TV channel, currently in the fold of NRJ Group.