Comcast acquires Dreamworks animation, ‘Shrek’ ‘Kung Fu Panda’ for $3.8 billion
Comcast Corp, the owner of NBCUniversal confirmed that news that it would buy DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc for $3.8 billion, a $41-per-share cash offer representing a premium of about 27 percent to DreamWorks’ recent close.
Trading in Dreamworks shares, which have gained nearly 50 percent in the last six months, was halted.
DreamWorks Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg will become chairman of DreamWorks New Media, which will include the company’s ownership interests in Awesomeness TV and NOVA. Katzenberg will also serve as a consultant to NBCUniversal.
DreamWorks Animation, known for movie franchises such as Shrek and Kung Fu Panda, was spun off from DreamWorks Studios in 2004. The studio was founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
Some say the move elevates the studio to better compete with Disney for the family film market flooding theaters to see animated films.
“We’re a big admirer of what Disney has been able to create under [CEO] Bob Iger. They’re this wonderful machine with all the different and well-loved IP,” Jeff Shell, Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairman told Variety. “It’s all driven by tentpole movies — movies that scale. They move across their consumer products business and their television business. We need bigger tentpoles that drive the whole ecosystem. That’s what’s going to separate us from the rest of the bunch and help us compete with Disney.”
“We have to keep putting good shows on, and it is tougher and tougher in a fragmented world to get a rating. But when you do, you do get rewarded for it significantly,” NBCU CEO Steve Burke also said.
NBCU bought up full control of Universal Studios Japan for $1.5 billion. Operating cash flow for the parks wing has tripled since 2010 to $2 billion in 2015, thanks in part to NBCU taking full ownership of both Florida and Japan. China is the next frontier, with a park in Beijing in the planning stages to compete alongside Shanghai Disneyland, which is scheduled to open in June.
photo/ Public domain pictures via Pixabay
