Media

Rai, real estate plan in Cda and profit of 9.3 million

CEO Rossi: 'Last profit in 2017 and today's is one of the best in the last 18 years'. Today, 22 May, the deadline for expressions of interest. Precedents in other European TV

by Andrea Biondi

Giampaolo Rossi, amministratore delegato della Rai 7146

3' min read

Translated by AI
Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI
Versione italiana

Rai is returning to profit. And it does so after eight years and precisely at a time when it is trying to turn its buildings into cash and efficiency.

The Board of Directors of public television has approved the draft 2025 budget with a positive consolidated net result of EUR 9.3 million: a figure that interrupts a long season of breakeven and that will lead to paying employees, for the first time since the current bonus system has been in force, a 100% result bonus. It is a sign of a Rai 'that has rediscovered discipline, direction and the ability to execute', according to Rai CEO Giampaolo Rossi. In his statement, Viale Mazzini speaks of economic and financial discipline, rejuvenation of the workforce, digital skills and artificial intelligence tools. The net financial position stands at EUR 585 million.

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For Rossi, the last line in black "is a result that marks a clear discontinuity: the last profit dates back to 2017, and the one achieved today is among the best in the last eighteen years, without resorting to extraordinary operations, as was the case in the past". These words are intended to place the balance sheet within a broader narrative: not just a reorganisation, but an attempt to redesign Rai as a digital media company, capable of expressing efficiency also in accounts and assets.

In this context, the Rai communiqué indicates that a passage ('update by the CEO') was also made yesterday in the BoD on the Real Estate Plan. Which represents a significant dossier: 15 prestigious properties to be sold, equal to 23% of the entire estate, with the aim of realising almost 250 million. The deadline for expressing interest expires today at 12 noon. Then, by July, non-binding expressions of interest are expected, with binding offers arriving around October. Working on the dossier, as advisors, are Kpmg Advisory, Kroll Advisory and BonelliErede.

According to the Sole 24 Ore, there have been around eighty requests for more information, suggesting a variety of subjects who may eventually want to see the cards in more depth. Rai's objective is to identify a single party to whom all the assets will be sold. Meanwhile, the Mic has expressed interest in Teatro delle Vittorie in Rome and Palazzo Labia in Venice. At this point, it will have 60 days, after notification of the sale contract with the successful bidder, to exercise pre-emption. But at the same price. According to what has been reconstructed by the Sole 24 Ore, there would have been no lack of distance between the councillors on the plan in the board of directors, and the debate would even have been close at times. The knot raised would be an accounting one: if the process were not to be closed by the end of the year, there would be less revenue to count for 2026.

In the end, however, there were no formal determinations. No stop, no retreat on a plan, begun with the then ad Roberto Sergio, which, as they well considered at Viale Mazzini in the preparatory phase, is in fact a road that other European public broadcasters have taken before.

In Spain, Rtve has been working since 2012 on a long-term rationalisation, with a reduction of locations and concentration in integrated hubs such as Prado del Rey. In Germany the path is more gradual: mergers, production hubs, investments towards digital. The most advanced case remains the BBC, which since 2010 has reduced space by around 21%, avoiding costs of around £34 million and generating over £129 million from divestments reinvested in transformation.

The top management's thesis is that the operation is not a family balance, but an industrial lever. CEO Rossi said this explicitly: 'The industrial plan and the property plan that we are carrying out are not an ordinary operation, but a step that has been awaited for decades and today has finally been made concrete'. And again: 'It is not just a reorganisation of assets, but a strategic investment in the future of RAI as the Nation's great cultural company'.

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