DreamWorks Animation buys Classic Media for $155 million

gynta · Post by **gynta** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 11:00:23 am

Does this change anything, for better or worse?

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/20 ... 5-million/

tchalla8 · Post by **tchalla8** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 11:14:04 am

Better or worse for who?

iwantvaliant · Post by **iwantvaliant** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 11:24:19 am

Interesting news. Thanks for sharing.

I'd be okay with Dreamworks making a live-action Turok movie. But I don't think many people would watch it.

Still, do it anyway!

David_Cody · Post by **David_Cody** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:58:18 pm

Seems like a boat-load of money for a bunch of has-been comics.

Dr. Solar · Post by **Dr. Solar** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:07:05 pm

It looks like Classic Media will remain intact, just as a division of Dreamworks.

My guess is this changes nothing. Magnus and Doctor Solar are small potatoes compared to Casper and Lone Ranger.

StarBrand · Post by **StarBrand** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 2:07:56 pm

Thanks for posting the news.

IanAlexavier · Post by **IanAlexavier** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:35:59 pm

Dr. Solar wrote:It looks like Classic Media will remain intact, just as a division of Dreamworks.

My guess is this changes nothing. Magnus and Doctor Solar are small potatoes compared to Casper and Lone Ranger.

If they are small potatoes, then they wont miss them

jmatt · Post by **jmatt** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:42:27 pm

david_albuq wrote:Seems like a boat-load of money for a bunch of has-been comics.

Yeah, that's some pretty old IP for that kinda coin. But another thread said it's a cash cow in some way...

Maybe we'll finally see some new Rudolph specials!

BugsySig · Post by **BugsySig** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:45:45 pm

jmatt wrote:
david_albuq wrote:Seems like a boat-load of money for a bunch of has-been comics.
Yeah, that's some pretty old IP for that kinda coin. But another thread said it's a cash cow in some way...

Maybe we'll finally see some new Rudolph specials!

I thought I read something about Classic Media having made 2-3x that much last year.

jmatt · Post by **jmatt** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:52:09 pm

BugsySig wrote:
jmatt wrote:
david_albuq wrote:Seems like a boat-load of money for a bunch of has-been comics.
Yeah, that's some pretty old IP for that kinda coin. But another thread said it's a cash cow in some way...

Maybe we'll finally see some new Rudolph specials!
I thought I read something about Classic Media having made 2-3x that much last year.

Which is what's puzzling, if true. Normally a buyout is X times the annual revenue (the X being the negotiable part); usually in the neighborhood of 10 to 20 times annual net proceeds.

dhudson1 · Post by **dhudson1** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:56:42 pm

jmatt wrote:
BugsySig wrote:
jmatt wrote:
david_albuq wrote:Seems like a boat-load of money for a bunch of has-been comics.
Yeah, that's some pretty old IP for that kinda coin. But another thread said it's a cash cow in some way...

Maybe we'll finally see some new Rudolph specials!
I thought I read something about Classic Media having made 2-3x that much last year.
Which is what's puzzling, if true. Normally a buyout is X times the annual revenue (the X being the negotiable part); usually in the neighborhood of 10 to 20 times annual net proceeds.

Having been through the sales of corporations, it is usually a multiple of cash flow or EBITDA and the multiple depends on the industry and trending. If trends are upward, multiples are higher, and vice versa.

lorddunlow · Post by **lorddunlow** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 10:16:44 pm

dhudson1 wrote:
jmatt wrote:
BugsySig wrote:
jmatt wrote:
david_albuq wrote:Seems like a boat-load of money for a bunch of has-been comics.
Yeah, that's some pretty old IP for that kinda coin. But another thread said it's a cash cow in some way...

Maybe we'll finally see some new Rudolph specials!
I thought I read something about Classic Media having made 2-3x that much last year.
Which is what's puzzling, if true. Normally a buyout is X times the annual revenue (the X being the negotiable part); usually in the neighborhood of 10 to 20 times annual net proceeds.
Having been through the sales of corporations, it is usually a multiple of cash flow or EBITDA and the multiple depends on the industry and trending. If trends are upward, multiples are higher, and vice versa.

I'm not entirely sure that was English.

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 10:24:01 pm

According to Variety, they had an annual revenue of around $100 million.

David_Cody · Post by **David_Cody** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 10:37:52 pm

jmatt wrote:
david_albuq wrote:Seems like a boat-load of money for a bunch of has-been comics.
Yeah, that's some pretty old IP for that kinda coin. But another thread said it's a cash cow in some way...

Maybe we'll finally see some new Rudolph specials!

Doubt you can do better than the 70's classic.

vikingspawn · Post by **vikingspawn** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 11:11:13 pm

Maybe Spielberg is a Plasm fan.

Aram · Post by **Aram** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 12:40:42 am

This is bad news unless someone in the know is a valiant fan or Cunio knows someone at dreamworks board. They will almost certainly not sell the rights, unless Cunio has connections with them and/or could convince them to just sell VEI those 3 properties. The 3 properties would do them little good except to sell to Valiant, but it is unlikely they would see it that way unless convinced.

Aram · Post by **Aram** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 12:45:27 am

Heath wrote:According to Variety, they had an annual revenue of around $100 million.

Gross or net?

kevinbastos · Post by **kevinbastos** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 7:41:11 am

Aram wrote:
Heath wrote:According to Variety, they had an annual revenue of around $100 million.
Gross or net?

My guess is gross.

Which probably nets - 15 mil. Hence the 155 mil sale, 10x the annual profit.

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 7:57:16 am

kevinbastos wrote:
Aram wrote:
Heath wrote:According to Variety, they had an annual revenue of around $100 million.
Gross or net?
My guess is gross.

My guess as well. The word "revenue" just means what they bring in and doesn't typically account for what has to go out.

magnusr · Post by **magnusr** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 11:24:24 am

Heath wrote:My guess as well. The word "revenue" just means what they bring in and doesn't typically account for what has to go out.

That would make more sense.

While it would be totally awesome if DreamWorks used the Gold Key characters, I do not dare hope it will happen. Would rather guess they will combine this with their own licensing department to save money. And for instance Magnus will be locked up.

/Magnus

Crow331 · Post by **Crow331** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 1:18:50 pm

Aram wrote:This is bad news unless someone in the know is a valiant fan or Cunio knows someone at dreamworks board. They will almost certainly not sell the rights, unless Cunio has connections with them and/or could convince them to just sell VEI those 3 properties. The 3 properties would do them little good except to sell to Valiant, but it is unlikely they would see it that way unless convinced.

After everything we've seen from Valiant so far, does anyone honestly believe this universe can't survive without the GK3 ?? I could care less about them at this point.

Rubiks-Q-Bert · Post by **Rubiks-Q-Bert** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 1:33:58 pm

Aram wrote:This is bad news unless someone in the know is a valiant fan or Cunio knows someone at dreamworks board. They will almost certainly not sell the rights, unless Cunio has connections with them and/or could convince them to just sell VEI those 3 properties. The 3 properties would do them little good except to sell to Valiant, but it is unlikely they would see it that way unless convinced.

Didn't VEI just say they had no plans of pursuing the rights to them? Doesn't really matter who owns it if that's the case.

vikingspawn · Post by **vikingspawn** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 1:51:29 pm

Wonder what this means for the Dark Horse GoldKey archives. The last one they have solicited is the Space Family Robinson archives. I remember they did a Shrek mini series years ago from Dreamworks.

Would be cool if Dreamworks jumps into making comics.

Byrneout · Post by **Byrneout** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 1:56:13 pm

Rats - looks like I duplicated the topic - I even looked first, but still missed this.

Anyway, here's a slightly different link, so as to consolidate the topics:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... dia-studio" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

kevinbastos · Post by **kevinbastos** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 2:19:44 pm

The article lists $15 million profit. Looks like our predictions were dead on.

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DreamWorks Animation buys Classic Media for $155 million

DreamWorks Animation buys Classic Media for $155 million

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