Studio 100

Studio 100 was founded in 1996 by Gert Verhulst, Danny Verbiest and Hans Bourlon. The three came together in 1989 when they created the show Samson & Gert, in which Verhulst and Verbiest also starred. Besides the production of their original show they started creating a new series called Kabouter Plop. Following the success of these two shows the company expanded into new fields in 1999. They produced two new television series, a movie, a musical and acquired a themepark. For the latter three they required co-funding from the Vlaamse Media Maatschappij. 2000 saw the acquiring of the girl group K3 and in the following years the number of television series, movies and musicals produced by Studio 100 grew.

In 2005 Danny Verbiest announced his retirement from Samson & Gert, but also as shareholder of the company. The shares were bought by Verhulst and Bourlon, but in 2006 the shares were sold to BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity. With the new ownership the company ventured into the international, non-Dutch speaking, market by copying their original shows in other languages and creating new shows like Bumba.[1]

Their international expansion took flight in 2008 when they founded a Belgium digital television channel called Studio 100 TV,[2] an animation studio in Paris and Studio 100 Media, a German division to sell their content to the international market. Later that year they acquired EM.Entertainment, a division of EM.Sports Media, for €41 million. EM.Entertainment owned a large library with classics as Vicky the Viking and Maya the Bee, a television channel called JuniorTV and Flying Bark Productions.[3] EM-Film, EM.Entertainment’s film production company, didn’t get sold to Studio 100 along with the main company. ZDF acquired EM-Film instead. Over the next years the company revamped the old classics they acquired and established a new cooking channel, called Njam!, in Belgium in 2010 and BeJunior in the Middle East and North Africa in 2016.

2017 was the next big step for the growth of the company when they acquired American animation studio Little Airplane Productions and their subsidiary Studio 100 Media took a majority share in the German based m4e, a company with a wide catalogue with series like Tip the Mouse. Their share was increased over time until they reached full ownership in 2020, after spinning off some m4e subsidiaries.[4] Their fourth animation studio, called Studio Isar Animation, was founded in 2018 by Studio 100 Media in Munich. In 2020 their animation studio Flying Bark Production opened a second studio in Los Angeles.[5]

The themepark division, Plopsa, also grew significantly. After taking full control of Plopsaland in 2005, they opened new theme parks in Hasselt (2005), Dalen (2010) and co-opened a theme park in Torzym (2018). The division also acquired theme parks in Stavelot (2005), Haßloch (2010), Antwerp (2019) and created water parks in De Panne (2015) and Hannuit-Landen (2020). With expansions planned in Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic and The Netherlands.[6][7]

On the 7th of February 2020 the ownership of the group shifted again when Vic Swerts and 3D Investors acquired 17% en 8% of the shares respectively. After the transaction Gert Verhulst, Hans Bourlon and BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity had a remaining 25% share each.[8]

• List of assets owned by Studio 100
• List of Studio 100 productions

• Studio 100 Group official website