Banijay

Banijay SAS (formerly Banijay Entertainment and later Banijay Group) is a French multinational production and distribution company founded in January 2008 by Stéphane Courbit. Headquartered in Paris, Banijay stands as the world's largest content producer and distributor; home to over 120 production companies across 22 territories, and a multi-genre catalogue boasting over 88,000 hours of original standout programming.

The company's programmes and formats include Big Brother, Deal or No Deal, The Money Drop, Fear Factor, MasterChef, Your Face Sounds Familiar, Survivor, Peaky Blinders, Black Mirror, among others. The company has expanded over the years through multiple acquisitions, including its purchases of Zodiak Media in 2016 and Endemol Shine Group in 2020.

Chaired by Courbit and led by Marco Bassetti (which in past was Endemol's CEO), Banijay Group is controlled by LDH (67%) and Vivendi (33%).

History
Banijay Entertainment was formed in January 2008 the result of successive acquisitions of production companies driven by French entrepreneur and TV producer Stéphane Courbit (LOV Group).

In October 2008, Banijay acquired Air Productions, the production company of famous French host Nagui. In 2009, Banijay acquired 51% of Spanish production company Cuarzo Producciones on 12 January, 50% of German producer Brainpool TV on 2 July and the entire television division of Copenhagen-based film studio Nordisk Film on 12 October. In March 2010, Banijay acquired American production company Bunim/Murray Productions for an undisclosed amount.

In September 2012, Banijay acquired a majority stake in Australian production company Screentime, which included a New Zealand division (Screentime New Zealand) and a 49% stake in Irish producer Shinawil which was sold in 2015. That same year, French celebrity channel Non Stop People and Cyril Hanouna's H2O Productions became new members of the Group, followed in 2013 by Italian producer Ambra Multimedia and Spanish producer, DLO Producciones.

In April 2014, Banijay launched Banijay Studios North America in Los Angeles, California. On 9 January 2015, Banijay acquired New York City-based Stephen David Entertainment.

In July 2015, Banijay Group announced that it would merge with Zodiak Media, making the former the world's only largest television content production and distribution company not owned by a media conglomerate, as other large television content companies are owned by media conglomerates; for example, ITV Studios is owned by ITV plc. The merger was completed in February 2016.

In July 2017, Banijay Group acquired Survivor production company Castaway Television Productions. In February 2018, Banijay Group acquired British-based company Wonder.

In June 2018, three new units, Banijay Studios Italy, Banijay Asia and Banijay Productions Germany, were created. In

In October 2018, Banijay entered advanced talks to acquire rival Endemol Shine Group, with a deal approved a year later on 26 October 2019. On 30 June 2020, the European Commission approved Banijay's purchase of Endemol Shine. The purchase was completed on July 3, 2020. On July 6, 2020, the company unveiled a new identity, shortening its name to "Banijay", while also confirming that many of Endemol Shine's divisions will keep their identities.

Shareholders
At the time of its creation in 2008, Banijay Entertainment's shareholders, alongside Stéphane Courbit (LOV Group),included: Groupe Arnault, AMS Industries and the Agnelli and De Agostini families.

As of 2019, Banijay Group is controlled by a composed of Stéphane Courbit's LOV Group through LDH (67%) with the remaining (33%) owned by Vivendi.