Quote reports that Talpa has been in contact with Prosus, a South African media conglomerate listed on the AEX. With the Dutchman Bob van Dijk as chairman of the board.
According to Quote, Talpa’s radio branch is in serious trouble and John de Mol has paid too much in the past for the takeover of various radio stations. Various radio DJs and managers have recently been fired. Various media people, including Patrick Kicken, Robert Jensen, Erik de Zwart and Herbert Visser, are featured in the article in the new Quote edition.
Spreek Buis.nl has also heard of talks with the South African media group. A Chinese media company would also have been interested in the radio branch. To date it has not yet resulted in a takeover. In the meantime, John de Mol wants to focus more on his TV production branch and sources report that he no longer wants to make investments to strengthen his radio and TV activities.
(update) Talpa denies that its radio branch is on sale:
‘There is no question of any (intended) sale of our radio stations. We are happy with the channels we have in our portfolio. With a market share of well over 40%, we serve a large part of the Netherlands and we want to continue to do so for a long time to come ‘
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