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France’s Mediawan buys majority stake in Brad Pitt’s Plan B

French media company Mediawan has bought a majority stake in US film star Brad Pitt's production house Plan B Entertainment, it said Friday, in a deal reportedly worth more than $300 million.

France's Mediawan buys majority stake in Brad Pitt's Plan B
Photo: Tiziana FABI/AFP

Plan B, co-founded by Pitt in the early 2000s with his then-wife Jennifer Aniston has three best picture Oscar winners to its name: “The Departed”, “Twelve Years a Slave” and “Moonlight”.

The deal “marks the deployment of Mediawan into the American market,” the French company said in a press release which did not say how much the deal was worth.

The Financial Times reported the deal had valued Plan B Entertainment at more than $300 million.

“Cinema is becoming international. Talents are emerging all over the world,” Pitt said in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper. “For our future projects, we have to look outside the United States.”

With Mediawan “we have the same conception of how to produce films and series,” he added.

In a press release Mediawan CEO Pierre-Antoine Capton said the deal was “an exceptional opportunity to be able to develop Mediawan alongside Plan B, the most beautiful independent production company in the US.”

Founded in 2015 Mediawan produces and distributes films, series and streaming shows and has recently snapped up several production houses across Europe.

It produced the hit Netflix show “Call My Agent.”

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TECH

‘3,000 new jobs’: Microsoft and Amazon to invest billions in France

Microsoft on Sunday announced €4 billion in investment for developing data centres in France, joining fellow US giant Amazon in committing to the country's tech infrastructure.

'3,000 new jobs': Microsoft and Amazon to invest billions in France

The announcements came on the eve of the seventh Choose France Summit, the aim of which is to attract foreign investors to the country. Macron will host it at the Chateau of Versailles near Paris.

Microsoft’s president Brad Smith told AFP the move to strengthen its artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure was the tech giant’s biggest-ever investment in France since its arrival 41 years ago.

France’s “longstanding commitment to carbon-free energy markets” and its status as a “critical leader” in Europe explained the decision, Smith said.

A new data centre will be created in eastern France, while existing sites in the Paris region and the southern city of Marseille will be expanded.

E-commerce behemoth Amazon will invest more than €1.2 billion in France, creating more than 3,000 jobs, French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said earlier on Sunday.

The money will help develop Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud infrastructure, mainly generative artificial intelligence, and the logistical infrastructure of its parcel delivery service, a statement added.

Amazon did not respond to approaches by AFP on Sunday, having recently said it did not want to make any comment ahead of a possible announcement that would be made at the event.

The US company has already announced the creation of 2,000 new jobs in France in 2024, which would bring its staff workforce in the country up to 24,000 by the end of the year, mainly in its logistics centres.

AWS is a key subsidiary of the group, having made $25 billion worldwide in the first quarter, capitalising on the growing appetite among businesses for remote computer and artificial intelligence services.

As Choose France prepared to get under way, several pharmaceutical groups, including US group Pfizer and Britain’s AstraZeneca, announced on Sunday commitments to invest more than a billion euros more in France’s health sector.

The largest industrial project announced so far is a potential fertiliser factory, which could significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

European consortium FertigHy is to announce it is looking at investing €1.3 billion into a factory in the Somme region in northern France, Industry Minister Roland Lescure told France’s La Tribune Dimanche newspaper.

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