It has already been a gloomy year for John de Mol: his dream deal with RTL has been rejected by the authorities. According to critics, the media billionaire is ‘very sick of this’. “He now has three options.”
It was the best conceivable exit scenario for John de Mol: the sale of his media company Talpa Network to the much larger RTL Nederland. He would get 30 percent of the shares in the media company. Now that that has been rejected, Talpa is back to square one. The big problem? John almost only has ‘old’ media and is not prepared for the future.
John misses bus
Where RTL has a huge asset with streaming service Videoland, John only has linear media. “Talpa missed the bus,” says his former employee Kirsten Jan van Nieuwenhuijzen The Telegraph.
And the prospects are also not good for Talpa in the traditional, linear field. “They have to divest one of the radio stations now. LINDA magazine. is the crown jewel of Talpa, that is also declining.”
Does Johan fall over?
The time to harvest is getting further and further behind John. The risk of Talpa collapsing further is huge, says former SBS boss Fons van Westerloo. He points out that flagship SBS 6 now only scores because of Today Inside. “That is vulnerable, if Johan Derksen falls over, then that success is over.”
It Financial Daily points out that John himself said that the Netherlands is too small for two large commercial TV companies. “Now that problem is back on his plate again.”
Three options
According to Fons, speaking in the FD this time, John has three options: selling to or collaborating with another party, pulling out the wallet and making acquisitions or developing a streaming service himself.
Acquisitions seem to get John nowhere and setting up a new streaming service is unfeasible in this market. Then there is one option left. “My prediction is that SBS will be put back on the market. There is always a buyer for media. Many parties find media juicy.”
