FuboTV Buys French Streaming Company for $190 Million

NEW YORK — fuboTV Inc. is expanding its live TV service in Europe by acquiring France’s number one live TV streaming company, Molotov SAS, for $190 million.

The transaction fuels fuboTV’s global expansion strategy by leveraging Molotov’s unique direct-to-consumer live TV streaming service and its advertising video-on-demand (AVOD) platform, Mango, which combined total nearly four million monthly active users in France (September 2021). The Molotov streaming platform was designed to be easily localized for new markets and languages, facilitating quick and efficient launches in additional countries. The technology capabilities between the two companies are expected to enable fuboTV to launch its interactive sports and entertainment streaming platform on a global scale.

FuboTV also announced this week it has reached one million paid subscribers for its Live TV services. The company currently operates in the U.S., Canada and Spain.

Molotov brings to fuboTV’s international business a freemium model which leverages a free tier to drive user growth and upsell customers to premium add-on channel packages. fuboTV plans to leverage Molotov’s strategy and low-cost marketing funnel for international growth while implementing fuboTV’s marketing technology to accelerate Molotov subscriptions.

Molotov has distinguished itself in France with a unique entertainment experience focused on live and on-demand TV series, movies, documentaries and kids content. fuboTV will look to provide Molotov with sports content and sports-first product features. The newly combined streaming platform has the potential to offer a robust and personalized product experience for everyone in the household. This well-rounded offering will also enable fuboTV to customize local content offerings as it enters new markets.

Under the terms of the agreement, fuboTV has submitted a binding offer to acquire Molotov SAS for €164.3 million (approximately $190 million using the foreign currency exchange rate as of November 8, 2021) in a combination of cash and equity consideration, of which at least 85% is expected in equity.

Molotov will continue to be based in Paris and led by JeanDavid Blanc, its co-founder. Blanc has also been named president, Molotov. Molotov’s approximately 100 employees will remain with the Company and fuboTV plans to further expand the product and engineering team in Paris. Molotov was founded in 2015 by Blanc (founder of AlloCiné) and Pierre Lescure (co-founder of Canal+).

“Molotov has set the benchmark for ad-supported and subscription streaming platforms in Europe,” said David Gandler, co-founder and CEO, fuboTV. “We believe this strategic asset will help accelerate our goal of achieving global scale and operating leverage as we continue to improve and innovate on our live, interactive streaming TV experience for sports fans and their families.”