• CMA CGM has entered today into a put option agreement with Altice France for the acquisition of 100% of the share capital of Altice Media, the leading live news player in France.
  • This transaction would enable CMA CGM to shape a long-term Media Division of the highest-quality news, sports, and entertainment content, with an editorial vision based on pluralism, independence, and work ethic and geared towards economic, social, and territorial themes.
  • Altice Media would be jointly acquired by CMA CGM and Merit France, each acquiring 80% and 20% respectively of the share capital, for a total enterprise value of € 1.55 billion.
  • The completion of the transaction remains subject to the consultation of the relevant employee representative bodies of Altice France companies and the approval from the customary regulatory bodies, including from the regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communications (ARCOM) and from the relevant competition authorities.

Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman & CEO of the CMA CGM Group, declared: « Through this contemplated acquisition, we have the ambition to pursue our long-term development into the media sector. Altice Media is a reference media group, with strong growth, talented teams, and iconic brands. Altice Media’s complementarity with CMA CGM’s existing Media Division and its renowned medias, La Provence, Corse Matin, La Tribune et La Tribune Dimanche, will be a key strength. Together, at any time, in any place and on any device, we can be the voice of the challenges resulting from innovation and by economic, social, and territorial evolutions ».

Altice Media: France’s 3rd largest private sector media group and the leading news brand
Altice Media, founded 20 years ago, is France’s 3rd largest private-sector media group and the reference news brand with over 13.2 million of daily viewers in January 2024. Altice Media gathers a young audience through BFM and RMC, its two iconic brands, and a differentiated offer focused on news. Over the last three years, Altice Media has developed a content-centric and multiformat distribution strategy across three national, ten local TV channels, three radio stations, a replay platform and an online news platform[1].

Altice Media generated revenue of €362 million in 2023 and employs 1,700 people, of which more than 900 journalists. Altice Media built its success on core values which are also shared with the Media Division of CMA CGM: proximity, reliability of information, editorial pluralism, work ethic, and innovation.

CMA CGM accelerates its development into the media sector
CMA CGM, which set up a dedicated Media Division comprising its local newspapers, its business and financial digital newspaper and its national Sunday newspaper, pursues its strategy to establish a long-term, leading Media Division.

This acquisition project would enable CMA CGM’s Media Division to offer highest-quality news, sports, and entertainment contents, addressing the needs of a constantly growing audience with diversified consumption patterns.

In today’s digital age, with more diverse media consumption patterns, the know-how and expertise of the teams would allow to share high-quality and increasingly top-rated publishing content, at any time, in any place and on any device.

Through Altice Media’s iconic brands, mainly BFM and RMC, and with La Provence, Corse Matin, La Tribune, and La Tribune Dimanche, the new entity would be present across all distribution channels: digital, broadcasting, video, print, and B2B editorial events.

The contemplated project would be done in total continuity with the current editorial policy at Altice Media, which drove the success of its TV channels and radio stations. To ensure such continuity, CMA CGM has offered Altice Media's current management team to remain in place.

Acquisition terms and conditions
Altice Media would be jointly acquired by CMA CGM, for an 80% stake, and Merit France, its Family Holding, for a 20% stake, for a total enterprise value of € 1.55 billion.

The information and consultation of the relevant employee representative bodies of Altice France companies will start immediately. The relevant procedures required to obtain the customary regulatory approvals have already been initiated.