Comcast buys DreamWorks Animation.

Knowing Comcast, I honestly feel that this will be the end of DW Animation. They haven't been doing well financially and on terms of making good movies for a while (save for Kung Fu Panda 3) so I find this to end up doing more harm than good. It's A Done Deal! Comcast Buys Dreamworks Animation for $3.8 Billion »

 

Comcast has their fingers in too many pots. I wonder if they're heading towards an AOL/Time Warner fall?

 

Wonder where COMCAST got the $$$???

 

what a mystery to unravel!

 

Danger, Will Robinson, Danger....

 

I prefer The Harryhausen Effect to CG anyway. It's grittier.

 

And strobier.

 

As is the case with most "merger and acquisition" type deals, this is likely based on a high degree of "leveraging" - in other words, a lot of borrowed money. These deals most often end up being good only for the high-level corporate executives immediately involved (they walk away with a ton of extra money in bonuses, golden parachutes and compensation increases) and the lawyers and accountants who do the paperwork involved. The losers most often end up being the shareholders and investors of the companies involved as well as the employees who get the shaft when the inevitable cost-cutting ensues. Most often the debt incurred by the purchasing company ends up so high that their new combined business hasn't a chance of being profitable enough to ever be able to pay it, leading to eventual bankruptcy. A good example of this sort of predatory capitalism is what is happening now as a result of the consolidation of the radio business. The investors who lend money to the perpetrators of this sort of garbage are most often fools.

 

Not a good sign.

 

Accurate insightful analysis.

Now, wondering the cash-flow source COMCAST utilized to secure the leveraging required for the acquisition.

 

This happened to Sports Authority a billion in debt

 

Yet somewhere out of all the wreckage there are probably a select few executives who walked away with millions.

 

No laws against this kind of deal?

 

Over the decades lobbyists have spent millions to ensure that our so-called representatives in government (from both parties) look the other way. I'd better stop now before I stray into the forbidden zone of politics.

 

LOL. I wonder if they will raise the price of the movies involved? The Comcast brand sucks...

 

I would guess so with the amount of $10.00 certificates they send around!

 

from all the price hikes to their subscribers!

 

Comcast is a multifaceted company with numerous divisions. They have the namesake cable company, the cable networks, Universal Studios, the NBC/Telemundo and its O&Os, and its theme parks and sports assets. Remember that they were going to buy TWC, a much larger transaction, before DOJ nixed the deal. They're not exactly in dire financial straits. DWA gets a rich uncle and some downside protection from the ups-and-downs of the film business. Disney has done well by Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm; I wouldn't write Comcast off just yet. That said, the rot set in at DWA years ago, and Comcast has a lot of work to do.

 

BTW, Comcast is paying cash for the transaction; they will not be going to the credit markets to pay for it.

 

COMCAST -
the result of a monopoly accumulating your money to grow ever larger, at least providing employment in the Philippines

 

At the end of the day, DreamWorks Animation keeps coming off to me as a second rate Pixar. I think that perception started because of the whole scheme to beat Pixar to theaters with Antz- their ripoff version of A Bug's Life. They can muster an okay film now and then, the Shrek films probably being their best... but even those aren't really all that great and they never resonated with me like a lot of the Pixar films did.

I can appreciate that they will be able to continue on, but I'm kind of done with sitting through their films.

 

Mergers. Bleh.

 

In other words, Comcast has bought out The Lone Ranger, Lassie, etc. as well as "Classic Media" is owned by DreamWorks Animation.

 

Need a list of titles to snap up before OOP happens.

 

I've always perceived DreamWorks Animation as a worthy adversary of Pixar with the former being raunchier than the latter and more daring in its humour starting the whole new school of building cartoons around parodies on culture.