Assaf Rappaport consortium mulls buying Channel 13

Len Blavatnik, the owner of Israel’s Channel 13, has already decided to sell the TV station, partly due to ongoing weakness in ratings in recent years and serious problems in the company’s management. Last April, Blavatnik signed a memorandum of understanding with the channel’s CEO Emiliano Calemzuk, who will receive 74% of the company’s shares along with a group of US Christian evangelical investors. Calemzuk was unable to form the consortium and. It has now been learned that there are several figures from Israel’s tech industry who are considering buying Channel 13.

This is a consortium of tech entrepreneurs who are acting privately, and not on behalf of their companies, to acquire the company. According to a source familiar with the matter, this is a group of entrepreneurs from all parts of the political map.

These entrepreneurs, who include Wiz cofounder and CEO Assaf Rappaport, want to allow Channel 13 to operate without their intervention. Moreover, as part of the deal, the entrepreneurs are interested in investing about $100 million in the next three years to allow the channel to operate and have room to breathe financially.

It is not yet clear who the other tech entrepreneurs who are joining Rappaport in the consortium are, but as far as is known, there are over ten entrepreneurs. Since things are not yet official, the entrepreneurs are keeping their identities confidential.

The talks with Nir Zuk did not mature

In 2024, tech entrepreneur Nir Zuk was interested in buying Channel 13, and was even in advanced talks in a deal worth an estimated $70-90 million. The negotiations were halted at the due diligence stage conducted by accounting firm EY, when Zuk’s people – led by Avi Ben Tal, who was previously the CEO of Reshet 13 – discovered problematic financial data.

As part of Zuk’s due diligence, it was found that even after Blavatnik injected NIS 100 million into Channel 13 at the end of 2023, the company’s losses in 2024 reached NIS 145-170 million. This meant that every month the channel was hemorrhaging NIS 12-14 million. According to estimates, about NIS 120 million of the loss derived from television activity, and the rest from digital, sponsored content, and more. After that, the talks with Zuk did not mature into a deal.

In May 2025 it was announced that Calemzuk was conducting advanced talks with the American investment company Kaylim Capital. But the parties have failed to make progress or sign any kind of agreement.

No response to this report has been forthcoming from Assaf Rapaport, Channel 13 or Len Blavatnik’s Access company.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on January 21, 2026.

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