French media giant Canal+ plans to recruit over 1,000 sales personnel in Africa as a core initiative in its strategic restructuring of newly acquired subsidiary MultiChoice. This move is part of its €100 million comprehensive revitalization plan aimed at reversing the loss of 500,000 subscribers that MultiChoice experienced over the past year.
By 2025, MultiChoice's user base had declined from 14.9 million to 14.4 million, prompting Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada to urgently launch a reform plan focused on strengthening the sales network, optimizing content supply, and tapping into the potential of the African market. The acquisition took 18 months to complete and was finalized in September 2025 for $3.2 billion, marking Canal+'s official entry into the African pay-TV market.
However, shortly after the acquisition, Canal+ announced the closure of MultiChoice's long-struggling streaming platform Showmax. The platform accumulated losses of up to €370 million over three years, and despite a $309 million investment in a relaunch in 2024 in partnership with NBCUniversal, it failed to achieve profitability. This decision indicates that Canal+ is shifting from aggressive streaming expansion to consolidating its traditional pay-TV base.
The €100 million investment will primarily focus on three areas: large-scale recruitment of the sales team, enriching the localized content library, and simplifying product package structures. Additionally, MultiChoice will initiate a voluntary departure program for support staff to streamline operational costs. This move suggests that the company believes the main reason for subscriber loss is not market saturation or streaming disruption, but rather a weak sales system—especially in many regions of Africa, where face-to-face sales and customer service remain crucial for maintaining subscriptions.
Despite expectations of a slight decline in MultiChoice's revenue in 2026, adjusted EBITDA is expected to rebound to around €170 million. The consolidated Canal+ group is projected to achieve total revenue of €8.665 billion in 2025, with a global user base of 42.3 million across Europe, Africa, and Asia. In 2026, the company anticipates moderate organic revenue growth, with adjusted EBITDA targets raised to €565 million, operating cash flow expected to exceed €500 million, and adjusted EBITDA margins likely to surpass 9%, demonstrating management's strong confidence in the effectiveness of the transformation.