Angela de Jong urgently advises RTL to refrain from taking over Talpa. According to her, the corporate cultures are just too different. “It is a morally bankrupt shop.”
More and more parties are wondering whether RTL Nederland would still do well to take over Talpa Network and then give John de Mol 30 percent of the shares in the new media combination. “I would think: yes, guys, aren’t we buying something that is a bit outdated?” say critics such as Kirsten Jan van Nieuwenhuijzen.
Morally bankrupt
Angela de Jong joins in her first AD column since her vacation in Italy. According to the opinion diva, it is a pretty clumsy step by RTL: “Incomprehensible that RTL still wants to take over that morally bankrupt shop.”
She points to the most recently discredited Talpa star: Peter Gillis. He is suspected of abusing his girlfriend, but Talpa reacts very reluctantly. Unjustified, thinks fellow opinion maker Harry Vermeegen. “He is not even fired from Talpa. They all think that too: go ahead.”
Angela denounces Gillis
For someone like Peter Gillis, Angela doesn’t touch her remote anymore. She describes him as ‘problem case 37 of SBS/Talpa’. “SBS should never have put that proletarian on the shield as a cult hero anyway. He’s in good company, that’s for sure. There is almost no presenter there without a blemish or blemish.”
Angela thinks that the viewer will punish Talpa very hard. “It doesn’t surprise me that the viewer sees through the created coziness of that channel and skips it on the remote control.”
What does Talpa think?
How does Talpa itself actually view the enormous cultural difference with RTL? Where John reigns alone and does not have such a problem with stars flying out of the corner, RTL is a large organization that attaches more value to norms and values. “You have to think about it and look at it carefully,” said Pim Schmitz, the general manager of Talpa Network.
Pim tells in the podcast BMY that you have to look closely at ‘cultural integration’. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be a fit to be. You can do things that are different or that you think differently… But as long as you see it well, as long as you guard it. Yes, that is very important in the process. We are noticing that now.”
Large sole proprietorship
Where does Pim notice that? “Of course we are preparing the RTL-Talpa merger and although we are both a media company, both a creative company and both commercial, there are cultural differences between Talpa and RTL. You have to recognize and acknowledge those differences. Then you have to do something about it together.”
He continues: “RTL is of course a big corporate and we are a very large sole proprietorship so to speak. If you bring them together, you will have differences in culture. Both have something good and both have things that work less well. You have to try to bring the best of the two together.”
AD column
Angela is back:
