CMI France (Marianne, Elle, etc.), the magazine press group of Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky (indirect shareholder of Le Monde), announced on Monday June 12 the acquisition of 45% of the capital of the video media Loopsider. This is a new investment for the businessman who multiplies the stakes in the media in France.
“With Loopsider, CMI France enters the capital of a profitable, growing company, based on a proven mixed model between editorial content and sponsored content”, explains the group in a press release. “Seven million people daily view videos on [Loopsider’s] platform, which has nearly 150 million views per month,” he said.
The founders of Loopsider (Giuseppe de Martino, Arnaud Maillard and Johan Hufnagel) remain the first shareholders and “the management remains unchanged”.
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Loopsider, founded in 2018, will also bring “its expertise in artificial intelligence to the brands of CMI France”, which will, among other things, allow the group’s media to “increase their impact” on social networks.
Since 2018, Daniel Kretinsky, already at the head of a small media empire in his country and a powerful energy group, has bought the magazines of the Lagardère Active group (including the emblematic Elle and Télé 7 Jours), the weekly Marianne, 49% of the shares of Matthieu Pigasse in Le Monde and more than 5% of the TF1 group.
In September, the businessman flew to the rescue of the daily Liberation, bailing it out to the tune of 15 million euros until its return to equilibrium expected in 2026, without becoming a shareholder.
Also a shareholder of Fnac Darty, Daniel Kretinsky made a commitment at the end of April to the media giant Vivendi to acquire its subsidiary Editis, number two in publishing in France. CMI France is the second magazine publisher in France in terms of distribution.