In addition to its animator salaries, Stéphane Plaza’s real estate empire is threatened with personal revenues with seven figures and a fortune in the key …
Stéphane Plazaessential face of the small screen, should know this week the verdict in the case of domestic violence which has pursued it since 2023 and revelations of Médiapart. The 54 -year -old star host, known for his smile and his enthusiasm on the screen, firmly denies these accusations. But the embarrassing revelations unpacked during a resounding trial in January already begin to seriously shake the impressive empire that he has been formed for almost 20 years.
In parallel with his successful shows on M6 as Apartment or house searchthe fifties has indeed built a flourishing network of real estate agencies under its name. In 2014, he lived Stéphane Plaza Immobilier with two alumni of the Lafôret network, to which the M6 group, which now holds half of the shares, is soon added. To lend its name to franchise agencies, Stéphane Plaza holds 25% of the capital. And the concept will meet a dazzling success: franchises will multiply at a frantic pace to reach more than 670 agencies across France today.
In 2020, the date of the latest known figures, the Plaza network posted a turnover of 16.5 million euros (according to Ouest-France), with a net profit of almost 6 million euros (according to BFM Immo) and an insolent growth of 47%. Enough to offer the host a nice nest eggs of 1.5 million euros annually before taxes. So much so that between 2017 and 2023, the year of the scandal, Stéphane Plaza would have raised around 6.2 million euros according to The informedto which are added “6% of the turnover of its agencies, 2% for advertising costs and more than 20,000 of the entrance fees”. The economic magazine estimated that the personal fortune of the host then amounted to more than 31 million euros, the company bearing his name having been valued at 125 million euros.
But this cash machine seems to vacillate today. During his trial in January, Stéphane Plaza said that his animator income had dropped in half, going “from 30,000 to 15,000 euros per month”. “I still earn my life very well,” he recognized however. Above all, his agencies visibly suffer from the case. Some agents are “insulting red lights”, testified a lawyer on BFMTV. Franchisees see “customers refusing to place Stéphane Plaza signs” and note “a drop in attendance and the loss of mandates”. A dozen agencies would even try to get out of a franchise on behalf that has become bulky.
The verdict of the Paris judicial court, this Tuesday, February 18, will therefore be followed very closely, while the prosecution requested 18 months in prison suspended and 10,000 euros fine against the real estate show (which faces up to ten years in prison and 150,000 euros fine). An unfavorable verdict could be fatal to a juicy little business.