Although Japan’s SoftBank wasn’t successful in its bid to purchase DreamWorks Animation, DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg continues to seek a buyer for his animation studio. Reports emerged yesterday evening that the studio was in negotiations to merge with toymaker Hasbro, and in a separate deal, may sell a stake in its AwesomenessTV brand to Hearst Publishing.
For the potential Hasbro deal, Katzenberg would lead the combined DreamWorks-Hasbro operation. Hasbro, which has a market capitalization more than three-and-a-half times that of DreamWorks, would pay $35 a share for DreamWorks, according to Deadline’s report. That’s only slightly better than the $32 a share that DreamWorks was offered by SoftBank (DreamWorks stock closed at around $22 yesterday, but has shot up this morning to, at the time of publication, $26).
For years, DreamWorks relied heavily on the consistent success of its animated features, but that model has been in disarray as three of its last five films—Rise Of The Guardians, Turbo, and Mr. Peabody & Sherman—have resulted in writedowns.