Canal+ has acquired a 12% stake in Viaplay for an undisclosed fee.
It announced the move on the same day Viaplay reported its Q2 results and revealed far-reaching cuts including shedding over 25% of its workforce and exiting the US, Canada, UK, Poland and the Baltics.
Going forward, Viaplay said it intends to focus on its core Nordic, Netherlands and Viaplay Select operations, as well as sports and international distribution.
It also said it is considering all other options including a possible sale.
Canal+ Group, a subsidiary of Vivendi, is a major player in the creation and distribution of content worldwide, with 25.5 million subscribers, a presence in more than 50 countries and 7 600 employees on every continent. It has 9.5 million subscribers in France and 7.6 million in Africa. It is also the leading television operator in French-speaking Africa and the largest shareholder in MultiChoice, the leader in pay-TV in English and Portuguese-speaking Africa.
In addition, Canal+ Group is a major player in the production and marketing of television channels, with 130 linear and non-linear channels produced in-house.
It aggregates major thematic channels and global content platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+ and Apple TV+ and itself invests €3.5 billion in content each year.
