Dreamworks Acquires Classic Media

Dreamworks Animation obtained Classic Media for $155 million last week. The company plans on leveraging the properties across television, consumer products, digital channels and movies. Such characters as Lassie, Casper the Friendly Ghost, George of the Jungle, The Lone Ranger and VeggieTales are all part of the Classic Media portfolio. Its library includes 450 titles and more than 6,100 episodes of both animated and live-action programming. “Classic Media brings a large and diverse collection of characters and branded assets that is extremely complementary to Dreamworks Animation’s franchise business, and we plan to leverage it across our motion picture, television, home entertainment, consumer products, digital, theme park and live entertainment channels,” says Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of September.