Orange is negotiating with online video site Dailymotion about acquiring a 49% stake for 58.8 million Euro. The French telecoms giant would then have the option to increase its capital to 100% from 2013.
Dailymotion, which is based in Paris, is the world’s largest online video site after YouTube.
Stéphane Richard, the CEO of France Telecom-Orange, said “This operation once again illustrates the role that Orange intends to play in the content value chain. Although we are no longer publishers ourselves, we are strengthening our position in the fields of aggregation and distribution. We will provide our customers with an enriched and innovative video offer combining Dailymotion’s know-how and diversity of content with the quality of our networks across all connected screens. Our role is to support our customers in this digital revolution - we would like to bring them into the 'Cloud Video’ world where Dailymotion is a major player.”