Sony Pictures Television is divesting its 30% shareholding in production company The Whisper Group after five years.
The sports and unscripted specialist will return to private ownership, using external financing, and create an employee equity scheme.
Whisper will continue to work with Sony Pictures Television (SPT) through strategic partnerships to help deliver entertainment products, including Wheel of Fortune, as well as a range of sports and media projects.
Whisper was founded in 2010 by Sunil Patel, Jake Humphrey, and David Coulthard, before SPT came on board in 2020.
With teams in the UK, EMEA, US, and Australasia, Whisper creates and delivers broadcast and digital content for events including Formula One, UEFA Champions League, Wimbledon, Roland Garros, The Paralympics, FIFA World Cup, and UEFA Women’s EURO.
With SPT, Whisper’s revenue grew from around £20m to circa £100m, and the company established Whisper North and Whisper Cymru to help drive a multi-genre strategy and international market expansion.
Sunil Patel, CEO and Founder of Whisper, said: “Five years ago, Whisper set off on a journey to become a multi-genre production company. That has been absolutely delivered – creatively, commercially, and culturally – with revenue up nearly 500%.
“It would not have been possible without our bold vision and partnership with Sony, which helped elevate Whisper to a truly global force, so huge thanks to Wayne and the wider Sony team.”
Wayne Garvie, President of International Production at Sony Pictures Television, added: “Dynamic, collaborative, innovative, over the last decade, Whisper has become one of the leading global production companies in their field. We have had a brilliant partnership for five years, from Wheel of Fortune to Wimbledon, so many great moments, and I’m sure that the many parts of the wider Sony family will continue to find ways of working with The Whisper Group, as we will in international production.
Netflix and Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) recently agreed on a first-of-its-kind global streaming deal for SPE movies. Discover more here.
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