Banijay and All3Media Merger Closes, Creating the World’s Largest Independent Production Company

Key Points

• Banijay Group and RedBird IMI have successfully closed the merger between Banijay Entertainment and All3Media to create the largest independent producer worldwide, with both having equal stakes of 50%. 
• The merged firm will have its headquarters in London, covering 25 markets and featuring a library with more than 265,000 hours of content, including MasterChef, The Traitors, Peaky Blinders, Big Brother and Survivor.
• For a consolidated basis in 2025, the group would have generated over €4.3bn of revenue and over €700m of adjusted EBITDA, with €50m of cost synergies being achieved within a year from the close of the deal.

A Deal Years in the Making, Finished in a Day

The paperwork is done. Following an initial announcement in March 2026, the combination of Banijay Entertainment and All3Media took place on 9 July and the world of entertainment has a new scale player. The combined firm will be traded under Banijay Entertainment and will be equally owned by Banijay Group and RedBird IMI at 50% each.

The new entity will be headquartered in London, a decision that the company called natural because of All3Media’s presence there for a long time. It now spans 25 territories and holds one of the largest independent content catalogues in the world; more than 265,000 hours of programming, according to the official completion announcement.

Jeff Zucker, CEO of RedBird IMI, has been appointed Chairman, while Marco Bassetti continues as CEO of Banijay Entertainment. Jane Turton, who led All3Media, moves into the Deputy CEO role.

The Numbers That Underpin the Logic

Mergers at this scale rarely survive on vision alone. The financial case for putting these two businesses together is hard to argue with. On a combined 2025 basis, Banijay Entertainment would have generated over €4.3bn in revenue and over €700m in adjusted EBITDA. The group expects to achieve approximately €50m in cost synergies within one year of closing.

For Banijay Group as a whole, the picture is even larger. On a pro-forma 2025 basis, the group would have reached €7.4bn in revenue, €1.6bn in adjusted EBITDA and €1.2bn in adjusted free cash flow. Banijay Group shareholders will also receive an exceptional dividend of €0.93 per share in the weeks following the close of the deal.

RedBird IMI paid €625m to Banijay Group under the terms of the transaction, with a further €176m pre-closing dividend bringing the total cash upstream to Banijay Group to approximately €801m.

Jeff Zucker put the ambition plainly: “The completion of this merger marks a new era in global entertainment and creates a new independent leader in that category.”

What the Combined Catalogue Actually Looks Like?

The 265,000-hour catalogue is not just a number. It brings together Banijay’s international format empire, which includes MasterChef, Big Brother, Survivor and Race Across the World, with All3Media’s portfolio of scripted and unscripted hits. All3Media’s contributions include The Traitors, Gogglebox, Midsomer Murders, Call the Midwife and Peaky Blinders.

Analyst firm K7 had already named Banijay Distributor of the Year for the third consecutive year before the merger closed, citing 300 active international adaptations that accounted for 21% of all new format launches in 2024. All3Media International, while smaller in volume, was consistently rated the top UK-based distributor by peers in Broadcast magazine’s annual survey.

The two distribution arms, Banijay Rights and All3Media International, will now operate as one combined entity. Managing a catalogue this size will not be without its challenges. Industry sources have flagged that keeping across a library of this depth is genuinely difficult, with the risk that older titles slip out of active circulation when attention is pulled toward headline-making new formats.

Marco Bassetti acknowledged the opportunity the combined portfolio creates: “Together, we are entering a new chapter as a global media and entertainment powerhouse and natural consolidator, uniting first-class creative talent and leadership, standout IP, and the diversified cross-territory expertise to build and retain long-lasting franchises that span every major market and platform.”

London Becomes the Seat of a New Global Powerhouse

The decision to base the merged group in London is significant. All3Media was already headquartered there, and the city’s position in the global media landscape made it the natural choice. The leadership team, Bassetti and Turton, will both be based in the capital, operating with Banijay Entertainment’s decentralised, country CEO-driven model.

The merged group brings together more than 170 creative labels across 25 countries and has a distribution reach across nearly 250 territories worldwide. The combined structure, as outlined in the official press release, includes Banijay Rights for distribution, Little Dot Studios for digital, and the live and immersive capabilities of both Banijay Live and All3Media’s events business.

Jane Turton described the shift: “With the completion of the merger of All3Media and Banijay Entertainment, we move to a next phase, one that is incredibly exciting. I am proud to be joining forces with Marco and the new team at a time when there is a huge appetite for brilliant shows developed and produced by world-class talent.”

Banijay’s Gambling Arm Keeps Growing While Media Consolidates

The media merger is only one part of the Banijay Group story. The group also operates Banijay Gaming, a European gambling conglomerate that has continued to expand even as the entertainment side of the business absorbed the All3Media deal. Banijay Group also bought JOA Groupe, the second biggest casino operator in France, just a few days prior to the finalisation of the merger.

Furthermore, Banijay owns more than a majority stake in Tipico, the big German gambling company, which has merged recently with Betclic, one of the biggest sports betting companies in France. Thus, these two business units are now part of the same group and therefore Banijay possesses a great foothold in both the French and German gambling markets.

Financial performance of the gaming sector remains solid. In 2025, the online betting and gaming division generated 10.2% year-on-year revenue growth amounting to €1.59bn, with an adjusted EBITDA growth for this division of 12.6%, from €379.8m to €425.2m.

The markets put pressure on operators in both countries. France imposes some of the highest taxes on gambling in Europe. For example, French retailers pay 42.1% in gambling taxes, and online gambling providers pay 59.3%, not to mention the recent increase in online poker taxation from 0.2% of stakes to 10% of gross gaming revenue. Operators in Germany also face obstacles, as the black market is responsible for about 23% of gambling volume. Channelisation rate in France is at 85%, compared to Germany’s 77%.

A Year When Scale Defined the Industry

The Banijay-All3Media deal does not sit in isolation. The entertainment sector spent much of the first half of 2026 in a consolidation cycle. Sky reached a deal to acquire the ITV network for £1.6bn. Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery completed their United States merger. Mediawan and North Road also moved toward a combination in Europe.

Deadline reported that Zucker himself acknowledged the broader context when the deal was announced: “We are at a time of tremendous change and consolidation and opportunity in the media space, and that’s why we felt that this was both necessary and opportunistic. You have to have more scale in the new world, and you can’t just get there with three or four smaller acquisitions.”

He added that further growth is not off the table. The company has not ruled out additional acquisitions, with Banijay Group CEO François Riahi previously declining to dismiss a potential move for ITV Studios, describing consolidation as “the name of the game.” Zucker also left open the possibility of a public listing for the combined Banijay Entertainment entity once integration is complete, with New York cited as one potential option.

François Riahi captured the group’s view of the moment: “This merger marks a defining milestone in Banijay Group’s history. Banijay Entertainment and All3Media are highly complementary businesses with exceptional creative assets and global ambition. We are delighted to partner with RedBird IMI for the next phase of development of Banijay Entertainment, to make together Banijay Entertainment the winning global leader of the content industry, both on and off the screens.”

Expert Analysis: Scale Wins, but Execution Is the Hard Part

The headline numbers are compelling and the strategic logic is difficult to fault. Combining the two largest independent production and distribution operations in the world gives the new Banijay Entertainment a catalogue, a territorial footprint and a set of format franchises that no rival can match at this size.

But the industry knows scale and execution are different problems. Running a library of 265,000 hours along with combining 170 innovative brands in 25 nations is not an easy feat. The task of consolidating the distribution and bringing Banijay Rights and All3Media International together under one sales operation will be a real test for the new management team to keep the producers, buyers, and broadcasters in sync. This is especially true of the independent producers who will observe this closely.

The €50m synergy target is achievable but will come with difficult decisions. Back-office and distribution headcount will feel the pressure first, with creative operations protected for now. Whether that protection holds past the first integration phase will tell most of the story.

What is clear is that Banijay Group has emerged from 2026 as a company operating at a different scale than it entered. The entertainment merger is closed. The gaming portfolio is growing. The market cap has crossed €3.7bn on Amsterdam’s Euronext. The next chapter starts now, and the industry will be watching every move.