Comcast is reportedly holding talks to purchase DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., makers of animated series like Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda, according to sources familiar with the matter as first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Comcast is no stranger to the lucrative family entertainment market as its Universal Pictures studio has found success in recent years with animated films such as Minions and Despicable Me.
As The Journal correctly points out, the acquisition would give Comcast a significant share of the family entertainment market and put Comcast in direct competition with heavyweight Walt Disney Co.
DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg is said to be entertaining an offer of more than $3 billion, a respectable premium over DreamWorks’ current valuation of $2.3 billion. If the company is sold and he leaves DreamWorks, Katzenberg would receive a payout of $21.9 million according to his company’s most recent proxy statement.
More importantly, the veteran Hollywood mogul controls roughly 60 percent of DreamWorks’ common voting stock. Translation – he’d walk away with a heck of a lot of money should the deal go down.
In recent years, DreamWorks has been an acquisition target of toy maker Hasbro Inc., Fox and Japan’s SoftBank.
Terms of the deal are still being hammered out and as always, things could go south at any given time.
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