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12/22/2024 10:49:31 pm

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DreamWorks Animation: Game Plan to Acquire SoftBank

Universal Studios

(Photo : reuters.com)

DreamWorks, the creators of our all-time favorite movies, such as "Madagascar", "Shrek", and "Kung Fu Panda", is reportedly selling their company to SoftBank Corporation, Japan's telecommunications firm, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Glendale Studio's chief executive, Jeffrey Katzenberg, has been planning to sell the company to SoftBank for the last 20 years. SoftBank, the owner of Sprint Corporation, recently let go of the company's bid to acquire T-Mobile.

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Although the source is not authorized to discuss this matter, it is said that DreamWorks had a board meeting considering an offer to SoftBank to purchase DreamWorks at $32/share--an amount more than the company's closing price on Friday, which was at $22.36/share. A spokeswoman of the company left no comment regarding the spreading rumors. 

The plan to sell the company stemmed from Katzenberg's scheme hatched two years ago, which referred to their goal of expanding their business. They had to focus on a broad-based studio, which involved innovating theme parks, digital media, and live entertainment, as well as heightening interests in television. That said, the company spent $33M to puchase AwesomenessTV, a YouTube network for teens. 

SoftBank has also been discussing this deal since there had been sharp declines in DreamWorks share prices due to the attempts to transform their operations after a series of breakdowns in the last two years.

After "The Croods" became a summer hit in 2013, the company took their third write-down of about $57M for "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" in less than two years. They were also reported to have had another write-down amounting to $87M for last year's "Rise of the Guardians", laying off about 350 of their employees. In spite these concerns, "How to Train Your Dragon 2" was a hit in China.

DreamWorks, which was founded 20 years ago, became part of the studio industry having David Geffen, Steven Spielberg, and of course, Jeffrey Katzenberg as film makers. The company turned into a multimedia powerhouse earning $700M/year and has then made its into becoming the leading animation company in the business. However, rising competitors caused DreamWorks to lose $15.4M in the second quarter.

On the other hand, SoftBank has now engulfed a wide array of trades in the technology sector including Sprint. This growing pressure led DreamWorks to consider SoftBank for acquisition, particularly due to Alibaba's investment of up to $20M. 

Nikesh Arora, who worked with Google for 10 years, became SoftBank's newest member to engineer innovative deals for the company. Sources say that if the deal with DreamWorks succeeds, SoftBank would definitely have a larger and diversified stream through their wide connections.

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