Altice Group has sold its media unit including the RFM and RMC TV channels to the French-Lebanese shipping tycoon Rodolphe Saadé.
Staff at Altice Media were informed about the move at a meeting on Friday morning.
The deal is valued at $1.68 billion.
Altice’s founder Patrick Drahi said the deal would allow further investment to be made into the two channels.
Drahi has previously said that the media operations were not for sale, however the company has $60 billion in debts to resolve.
This week French financial prosecutors launched an investigation into Altice, after the arrest of Armando Pereira, Altice’s co-founder, the previous July.
Both Pereira and Drahi deny any knowledge of the wrongdoing.
