Endemol One Of Few Companies To Produce Worldwide Television Hits
Rick Ellis, Staff Writer
NBC
POSTED: 1:44 pm CDT October 27, 2004
NEW YORK -- Media giant Time Warner had made an offer to purchase Endemol Holdings, the company behind such worldwide reality-TV hits as "Fear Factor," "Big Brother" and "Changing Rooms"/"Trading Spaces."
According to the Spanish newspaper La Gaceta, Time Warner has delivered a bid of euro2 billion in a letter to Endemol's parent, the Spanish communications giant Telefonica. Time Warner executives recently met in New York with representatives from Telefonica to discuss the acquisition.
Endemol would be an important purchase for Time Warner, as it is one of the few production companies that has been able to successfully create and sell television-programming concepts across the world. 'Big Brother' is currently airing in 20 countries and 'Fear Factor' is now seen in 16 markets worldwide.
Endemol has been the recent target of sale rumors, as Telefonica continues to dispose of companies built up during the reign of its former chairman, Juan Villalonga. Telefonica recently shed its 5 percent stake in the Financial Times publisher, Pearson, and in August, it sold the online search company Lycos.
