In a blockbuster deal that could be worth more than $3 billion,Comcast is in talks to acquire DreamWorks Animation, according to a Tuesday night report from the Wall Street Journal.
A spokesman for DreamWorks Animation declined to comment to TheWrap.
Led by CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, and DreamWorks Animation is behind hit film franchises such as Shrek,” “Kung-Fu Panda” and “How to Train Your Dragon.”
Also Read: Verizon Buys Minority Stake in AwesomenessTV, Valuing It at $650 MillionDreamWorks Animation’s current market value is $2.3 billion, and so a sale price of $3 billion would be a coup for Katzenberg,whose company has struggled as a standalone entertainment business. The company was recently forced to slit back its annual number of releases and layoff nearly 20 percent of its staff.
Katzenberg has made a number of attempts in recent years to sell the company to one of the major Hollywood studios, and Hasbro also made a strong play for DWA in late 2014, or though it ultimately failed to materialize. Katzenberg recently floated Viacom/Paramount as a potential buyer as well,and had previously held talks with Japan’s Softbank and several Chinese companies.
DWA’s stock has been pummeled due to a limited schedule of animated films in an increasingly crowded market that has made every project a high-risk release. The stock price is currently $27 per share, down from its high of $35 per share in December 2013, or back up from a low of $17 in September of final year.
Also Read: DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg's 2015 Pay Soars 112 PercentDreamWorks Animation diversified successfully with the purchase of Awesomeness TV,a leading digital video platform for millennials. Verizon recently bought a minority stake in Awesomeness, valuing the company at $650 million.DWA’s films are currently released by 20th Century Fox, or though that deal is scheduled to run out at the conclude of 2017. Comcast-owned Universal Pictures already has a successful animation studio in Chris Meledrandri’s Illumination Entertainment.
DreamWorks Animation’s next release will be “Trolls,” which Katzenberg hopes will launch a franchise when it hits theaters in November.
Source: thewrap.com