US company Discovery Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA), owner of the Discovery channel, is in talks to buy a 33% stake in Israel's Reshet Channel 13 television station, a source close to the matter has told "Globes." If the deal goes ahead, Len Blavatnik and chairman Nadav Topolski, who currently have a 68% stake in Reshet through RGE Media, will remain the controlling shareholders. Other shareholders including Udi Angel, the Strauss family and Dutch media company Endemol, who are not prepared to inject any more money into the TV company, will sell their entire stakes or reduce it to just a few percent.
Discovery is a very profitable company, which reaches millions of homes worldwide with content revolving around lifestyle, culture, science and nature. At the start of the month, the company launched its Discovery streaming service Discovery Plus in North America and Europe to compete with rivals Netflix, Amazon, Apple and Disney.
In recent weeks, Discovery has been investigating Reshet 13 with a view to completing the investment by the end of March. This is not the first time that Discovery has considered investing in Reshet. Discovery conducted preliminary due diligence several years ago before Endemol invested in Reshet, but ultimately decided back then not to invest.
Greece's Antenna Group was considering investing in Reshet several months ago but did not proceed with any deal after conducting due diligence.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 13, 2021
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