Rodolphe Saadé acquires the video media Brut and continues to expand his journalistic empire

Online video media Brut has come under the umbrella of the CMA CGM group, owned by billionaire Rodolphe Saadé, following the completion of its acquisition announced Friday, September 12. This new acquisition adds to the BFMTV channel and RMC radio, as well as the newspapers La Tribune and La Provence . "With this transaction, CMA Media becomes a key player in the French media landscape, addressing all audiences and covering all channels : regional and national press, television, radio and social networks," CMA Media, the media subsidiary of CMA CGM, stressed in a press release.

CMA Media announced at the beginning of July that it had entered into exclusive negotiations to purchase Brut , in which it was already a shareholder. The group is also preparing to acquire the television channel Chérie 25 (NRJ Group).

"The integration of Brut marks the creation of a third strategic pillar within CMA Media, the social division [social networks, editor's note], alongside the press and audiovisual divisions," continued CMA Media, which represents "the second largest editorial team in France (and the first in the private sector) with more than 1,600 journalists."

Brut will continue to be led by its CEO, Elsa Darquier. She will report to Claire Léost, the new CEO of CMA Media and a transfer from the Prisma Media group, who has been appointed President of Brut. Brut co-founders Renaud Le Van Kim and Guillaume Lacroix will "continue to support the strategy" as advisors. Brut, which employs some 250 people and has reorganized in recent years to save money, has been profitable since the last quarter of 2023.

Rodolphe Saadé is thus strengthening his influence in the French media landscape, in which he has been invested for three years. CMA CGM became the owner of the La Provence group (dailies La Provence and Corse Matin ) in October 2022. He then acquired a stake in the audiovisual group M6 at the end of 2022, then in Brut, before taking control of the economic newspaper La Tribune and launching a Sunday edition in 2023. In the summer of 2024, CMA Media acquired BFMTV, RMC and the TV channels RMC Découverte and RMC Story from Altice.

On Friday, the Journalists' Associations (SDJ) of BFMTV, RMC and La Tribune deplored the fact that "a position statement by Rodolphe Saadé on the country's political and social news [was] broadcast on BFMTV" on Thursday. These were written excerpts taken from an article published in La Provence after the "Block Everything" movement on Wednesday. "Businesses are not adversaries, they are partners of the Nation," Rodolphe Saadé wrote in particular.

"The CMA CGM group's media are not a channel of influence," protested the SDJ, saying they were "vigilant about their editorial independence." According to them, the management of the BFMTV channel assured them that there had been "no request from the shareholder" and that the broadcast of these comments "was part of a news segment focusing on the reaction of business leaders" to the social movement.