A New Player in Film/TV Production Emerges
Gerry Cardinale, Jeff Zucker (RedBird IMI)
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David Zaslav (WBD), Mike Fries (Liberty)
RedBird IMI buys All3Media from Warner Bros. Discovery and Liberty for $1.45 billion
In May 2024, Jeff Zucker and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird IMI closed its biggest deal to date, acquiring All3Media, the U.K.’s largest TV producer, from Warner Bros. Discovery and Liberty Global for a cool £1.15 billion ($1.45 billion). The deal, done over six months between leads Richard Birns and Nicholas Tomlison from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP repping RedBird, and Bob Bishop and Jon Kenworthy of DLA Piper for WBD and Liberty, gives RedBird control of All3Media’s 50+ production banners from Sam Mendes’ Neal Street (Call the Midwife, 1917) and Two Brothers Pictures (Fleabag) in the U.K., to L.A.-based reality giant Studio Lambert (The Traitors, Squid Game: The Challenge).
“We dealt with the usual and customary issues you have to deal with in a carveout transaction – namely, making sure that all the assets, including contracts and employees all port seamlessly with the business your client is buying – with the added complication that All3 was itself held by a joint venture jointly held by Liberty Global and Warner Bros. Discovery,” says Birns and Tomlinson. “All sides had a “get the deal done” approach and so while there were complicated issues to sort out, all sides were able to work through these deal points constructively.”
All3Media is the new jewel in RedBird IMI’s growing empire, which includes unscripted production company EverWonder Studios, children’s entertainment group Hidden Pigeon Company, the digital news outlet Front Office Sports, and a stake in Media Res, the studio behind the Apple TV+ shows The Morning Show and Pachinko.
More Dealmakers: Richard Birns and Nicholas Tomlinson of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (for RedBird); Bob Bishop and Jon Kenworthy of DLA Piper (for WBD, Liberty)