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Big Brother creator back at Endemol helm
John de Mol, who helped create the reality TV boom with Big Brother, was yesterday back in charge of Endemol, the production company he co-founded 13 years ago.
Spanish telecoms company Telefonica, which bought Endemol at the height of the dotcom boom, sold its controlling stake for €2.6bn (£1.8bn) yesterday to a consortium that includes Mr de Mol's Cyrte Investments and Mediaset, the media group controlled by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. The deal follows Mr de Mol's acquisition of the classic horror creator Hammer Film Productions last week.
The consortium, which also includes investment bank Goldman Sachs, plans to buy back the remaining shares in Endemol, listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange, valuing the whole business at more than €3.4bn.
The deal is likely to lead to big changes at the company, Europe's second largest TV producer after RTL's Fremantle Media, including the possible departure of Peter Bazalgette, chief creative officer of Endemol's worldwide business and its best known executive in the UK.
Mr Bazalgette made his name as owner of Bazal, the company behind such BBC hits as Food and Drink. He sold the company in 1990 to a rival production firm that eventually morphed into Endemol UK.
The price paid by the consortium for Endemol marks a considerable discount on the €5.5bn (£3.8bn) that Telefonica spent on the business in 2000. Endemol turned Big Brother into an international phenomenon but the gameshow Deal or No Deal, hosted by Noel Edmonds, is now an even bigger hit, generating more revenues worldwide than the reality show. [/url=http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,2079772,00.html]guardian
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