Comcast Buys Dreamworks Animation for $3.8bn

[quinnmac000]

So Steve Burke did not say anything regarding the deal at the call today. This isn't a straight out denial that talks aren't going on but they are staying closed lipped.

 

[WAJAS]

Everyone thank Robert Niles.

Universal's owner is in talks to acquire DreamWorks Animation

Hmmm, I was pretty sure the contract for SeaWorld was till 2017. Although the show isn't in the parks anymore. Maybe they ended it early? Weird

 

[JungleSkip]

So Steve Burke did not say anything regarding the deal at the call today. This isn't a straight out denial that talks aren't going on but they are staying closed lipped.

That's standard practice. In fact, him refusing to comment leads me to believe this is probably close to being done

 

[quinnmac000]

That's standard practice. In fact, him refusing to comment leads me to believe this is probably close to being done

My point was that. Viacom straight up denied when DWA and Paramount rumours came about. No comment makes me think there is truth.

 

[Mad Dog]

This is actually a huge deal. (Though I'm pretty sure NBC is trying to get their hands on the Broadway Video Catalog as it holds all the early SNL, Tonight Show and Late show tapes)
Just a list of IPs hidden under Classic Media. I tried to find a complete listing but here is basically all of them.

• UPA catalog (Mr. Magoo, Gerald McBoing-Boing, etc.)
• Harvey Entertainment catalog (Casper the Friendly Ghost, Richie Rich, Baby Huey, etc.)
• Golden Books/Gold Key Comics catalog (Magnus, Robot Fighter, Doctor Solar, Turok, Little Lulu, etc.), including the Broadway Video catalog (Lassie, the Lone Ranger,Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, etc.)
• Big Idea Entertainment catalog (VeggieTales)
• Entertainment Rights catalog, including the Filmation (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, BraveStarr, etc.), Woodland Animations (Postman Pat, Charlie Chalk)and Tell-Tale Productions (Tweenies, Boo!, etc.)catalogs.

• Noddy
• Olivia
• Felix the Cat
• Where's Waldo?

• Theodore Tugboat
• Voltron
• Jay Ward Productions catalog (The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, George of the Jungle, etc.)
• Tribune Media Services catalog (Dick Tracy, Brenda Starr, Reporter, Gasoline Alley, Broom-Hilda, etc.)
• Several Godzilla films, under license from Toho

If this deal goes through, it's primary goal is probably to acquire content. And there's plenty of content that can be used for Comcast's present & future media plans. The IP's for the theme parks are probably secondary to that. But there's certainly a lot of product that will lend itself to theme park lands & attractions. The price right now is probably a bargain since Dreamwork's financials have been weak for some time. It will be interesting to see if this goes through. Dreamworks had a couple of suitors in the past few years, but they backed off after looking at the books. But this does seem like a good match for Comcast, if the price justifies the balance sheet.

 

[Macfr3ak]

I think that for those saying this is a bad deal theyre missing the big picture. Old/New good/Bad sequels. These are properties that when appointed the correct people and given the correct budget can resurrect from the dead. Reboot all DWA properties that are (old) or on the decline.

Next thing you know Comcast/Uni will acquire Royal Caribbean

I seriously do not doubt this. Or norweigan but we can create a new thread for this.

Jeffrey Katzenberg.

The guy ran Disney Animation and was in line for the CEO role at Disney. He's one of the most powerful people in the media world. I'd be shocked if he wasn't on the shortlist for Disney CEO now.

I believe they are bringing in some good talented execs if this deal occurs and keeping a top exec away from disney alone might be worth a huge chunk of the 3B offered.

 

[mitchada04]

I'll just sit here and throw in my hope of a Berk themed land at the 3rd park again... I don't care for the practicalities, would be an amazing area! If not what they're building at Motiongate seems pretty cool, and the coaster going to the HTTYD section is a Mack suspended powered coaster, and having just ridden the prototype, Arthur, at Europa Park and can say that it has huge potential of being amazing as Arthur is a brilliant family dark ride coaster! Would also be decent to have an indoor section what with the Florida weather sometimes.

 

[graspthesun]

SWP may have relinquished the rights early to save money on royalties.

 

[GadgetGuru]

I believe they are bringing in some good talented execs if this deal occurs and keeping a top exec away from disney alone might be worth a huge chunk of the 3B offered.

For those who think this sounds crazy (who's worth 3B?!), there's plenty of precedent for this in the business world. Apple paid $3B for Beats, mostly to get Jimmy Iovine (and Dr. Dre + some music tech to a much lesser extent).

 

[Shucker]

3 Billion, wow. Makes the 4 Billion for Lucasfilm seem like a bargin.

 

[quinnmac000]

3 Billion, wow. Makes the 4 Billion for Lucasfilm seem like a bargin.

Lucasfilms wasn't in the best bargaining position. Their two biggest properties came out with publicly disliked and critical bombs with Star Wars and Indy. If Indy and The Crystal Skull and the Prequels did extremely well, the price would be totally different I am sure.

 

[JungleSkip]

Lucasfilms wasn't in the best bargaining position. Their two biggest properties came out with publicly disliked and critical bombs with Star Wars and Indy. If Indy and The Crystal Skull and the Prequels did extremely well, the price would be totally different I am sure.

I mean, the prequels and Crystal Skull still made a crap ton of money. I think Lucas was just kind of done, and gave Dis an inside baseball price as long as they kept his people in there.

 

[quinnmac000]

Not good news but not necessarily bad news either.

DreamWorks Animation And Comcast Talks Slow After Disclosure | Deadline

 

[GadgetGuru]

"Still, some analysts urge DWA investors to sell today."

This is just negotiation. DWA jumped up from $2.3B market cap to $2.8B market cap. If Comcast wants a $3B purchase price, they need to offer full market cap + some amount of top of that. So, they'll start slowing talks, wait for the stock to go back down, and then buy the company.

Not saying it's a done deal, but wait until the deal is dead before taking stock (pun intended) in this.

 

[Mad Dog]

"Still, some analysts urge DWA investors to sell today."

This is just negotiation. DWA jumped up from $2.3B market cap to $2.8B market cap. If Comcast wants a $3B purchase price, they need to offer full market cap + some amount of top of that. So, they'll start slowing talks, wait for the stock to go back down, and then buy the company.

Not saying it's a done deal, but wait until the deal is dead before taking stock (pun intended) in this.

Yeah, not a bad strategy. Dreamworks wasn't exactly getting fought over by suitors. The other deals fell apart as soon as the other companies started looking at the books. Dreamworks has been struggling for a good while.

 

[ChrisFL]

Voltron? woohoo!

 

[quinnmac000]

Yeah, not a bad strategy. Dreamworks wasn't exactly getting fought over by suitors. The other deals fell apart as soon as the other companies started looking at the books. Dreamworks has been struggling for a good while.

Well its mainly because they use a WDI sized budget to make a film so the film has to be ridiculously successful for them to actually make a decent profit. I don't blame them for not wanting to buy under those circumstances but at least I'm sure if Comcast gets it, they will put a stop to that and be like look Illuminations can do this at this price. Fix that crap now.

 

[Frogki]

You know, I'm happy for new and exciting content and particularly some new theme park possibilities but the monopolization of American media is absolutely incredible to me, and a tad frightening.

 

[GadgetGuru]

You know, I'm happy for new and exciting content and particularly some new theme park possibilities but the monopolization of American media is absolutely incredible to me, and a tad frightening.

Blame Disney for that one. They've been doing horizontal integration since the beginning. Make some content and then spread it everywhere - retail, theme parks, games, movies, TV shows, etc, etc. Then, Iger came in and realized that he could go more vertically. Get as much content as possible and stretch the idea of a media company.

Comcast is starting down that path. And since, they own the method of distribution (that pesky evil cable company we all forget about), they can go even more extreme...

 

[Mad Dog]

Yes, content is the key. He who has both the content & the means to deliver it, in various forms, will control the marketplace.