Talpa

Talpa was created in 2017 by John de Mol when he merged all his various media assets, De Mol wanted to create a Dutch media conglomerate that could stand against foreign media companies entering the Dutch market. When Talpa Holding and Sanoma acquired SBS Broadcasting in 2011, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets forced De Mol to sell his minority stake in RTL Nederland. De Mol would remain a minority shareholder in SBS Broadcasting, until 2017 when his Talpa Holding acquired all remaining shares in SBS Broadcasting from Sanoma for €237 million. After the sale of RTL Nederland, De Mol took full ownership of Radio 538, SLAM! FM and Radio 10 Gold. In October 2016 De Mol merged his radio stations with the radio stations of the Telegraaf Media Groep into Talpa Radio, a joint venture in which he would hold a 77% stake. He also wanted to fully acquire the Telegraaf Media Groep in which he already had a minority share and merge it with SBS Broadcasting. The Belgian Mediahuis also made several offers for the remaining shares and were the winner of the acquisition, leaving De Mol as a minority shareholder. In December 2017 De Mol sold his 29% share to Mediahuis, but acquired full ownership of Talpa Radio. Other notable acquisitions were StukTV (2018), ANP (2018), Linda. Magazine (2019), Gierige Gasten (2019) and TVGids.tv (2019).

Cancelled merger

After John de Mol raised his stake in SBS Broadcasting in 2017 to full ownership he sought a partnership with RTL Nederland. In his opinion there wasn't enough space for two major Dutch commercial television networks in the changed media landscape, RTL shut down his offer. However, in June 2021 RTL Nederland and Talpa Network announced plans for a merger, pending approval by the European Commission and the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets. In the new conglomerate, RTL Nederland is to hold 70% of the shares and Talpa Holding 30%. Talpa Entertainment Productions and Talpa Concepts won't be a part of the merger. Both parties reasoned that a merger was the only solution to an ever growing presence of foreign media parties, giving space to a single commercial Dutch media company that's capable of producing specifically for the Dutch market. Critics however claimed that the failing of Talpa Network is the reason behind the merger. In January 2022 the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets stated that it could not approve the merger as of yet and that further investigation to the consequences of price, quality and innovation is necessary. On the 30th of January 2023 the Authority announced that it would not approve the merger, citing that the merged company would become too powerful.