Biography
At the age of 12 he came to Israel with his family, where he grew up in humble circumstances. After school, his musical inclinations led him to initially seek his fortune as a bass guitarist, although Saban soon discovered his business skills. At the age of 22, he was already working as a band manager and concert promoter in Israel. When his first company bankruptcy, due to the "Yom Kippur" war, caused him to emigrate to France in 1973, Saban founded his own music studio in Paris, which successfully tried to produce soundtracks for comics and TV series. Saban achieved his first international fame through producing the film music for the TV series "Dallas", which was also broadcast in Europe.
In 1980, Saban moved to the USA to found the company "Saban Entertainment" in Los Angeles, which achieved world-class status in the TV, cinema and music production markets in the following two decades. The media company was able to establish itself particularly in the area of Japanese comic films. In addition to its headquarters in California, Saban's company soon opened offices in New York, France and Germany. While Saban made a fortune with the comic series "Power Rangers" starting in 1989, he supported his friend Bill Clinton's Democratic Party with a $7 million donation. In 1995, Saban founded the TV company "Fox Kids Worldwide" together with Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch, which they sold to "Disney" for a profit in 2001.
In 2001, the media entrepreneur founded "Saban Capital Group Inc.", which sought to expand in the global media market. In addition to his entrepreneurial activities, Saban was also involved in the field of education on several occasions: he founded the "Saban Institute for the Study of the American Political System" at Tel Aviv University. He also participates in several child protection nonprofit organizations. After Saban's company had been in discussion since autumn 2002 as an interested party to take over Leo Kirch's failed German media group, its offer in mid-March 2003 initially beat out the competition, including Heinrich-Bauer-Verlag. In addition to the cheaper offer, it was apparently Saban's expressed intention to keep the company headquarters in Munich that got him the contract.
In the spring of 2003, Saban took over ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, a key piece of the KirchMedia Group, which had fallen into crisis. The media mogul announced the founding of a subsidiary that will in future manage the two major national channels of German private television. But at the beginning of June 2003 it became known that the agreed takeover had fallen through and the purchase agreement would be terminated. The race to take over the insolvent Kirch-Media Group entered another round. In early August 2003, Saban brought himself back into the game by making another offer. Surprisingly, on August 5th he was awarded the contract for his option to take over 26% shares in ProSiebenSAT.1. He was later able to increase his stake in ProSiebenSat.1 to 50.5% by buying up shares in Taurus TV.
As a first measure, in mid-September 2003, Saban created the "Chief Operating Officer" as the central leadership figure of ProSiebenSat.1, based on the American model, to which the Belgian Guillaume de Posch was appointed. He also extended the contract of the CEO of Germany's largest TV group, confirming Urs Rohner in this role until the end of 2006. At the same time, Saban's expansion plans to Great Britain became known, where the US billionaire wanted to take a stake in the British private broadcaster "ITV". In November 2003, the largest German TV group was able to report a profit for the first time since 2000: In the third quarter, ProSiebenSat.1's profit had risen to three-digit millions. In September 2004, a settlement was reached between the Axel Springer publishing house and the Kirch insolvency administration: Springer waived its right to sell its stake in ProSiebenSat.1, which the publisher, on the contrary, increased. For this reason, Springer's claim of 325 million euros was recognized in the insolvency proceedings.
Also in September 2004, de Posch announced the founding of the ProSiebenSat.1 subsidiary SevenOne International, which would be responsible for the international distribution of TV productions. In mid-October 2004, Saban was voted number one among the most important television producers in the magazine "Gentlemen's Quarterly" (GQ) by a jury of recognized media journalists. In April 2005, there was public speculation about Saban's possible exit from ProSiebenSat.1. In January 2006, an application was made for the takeover of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG by Axel Springer Publisher rejected by the Federal Cartel Office on the grounds of a potential "duopoly position" together with the Bertelsmann Group (joint TV market share: 40%). In December 2006, Saban and his investors sold the shares in ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG to KKR/Permira at a high profit.
Haim Saban is married to Cheryl and has two children.
