Paramount buys Dreamworks SKG in a 1.6 billion dollar deal

[Romier S]

Here's the report from CNN Money:

 

Paramount buys Dreamworks

 

 

Viacom (Research) will pay about $774 million in cash. The rest of the $1.6 billion purchase price is assumption of debt.

 

Paramount and its media conglomerate parent sealed the deal in about a week, snatching privately held DreamWorks from General Electric Co. (Research)'s NBC Universal, which had been in on-again, off-again talks for most of a year, executives said

 

Viacom plans to sell DreamWorks' 59-title library, which includes Oscar winner "American Beauty" and hit "Gladiator," for $850 million to $1 billion in the next couple of weeks, leaving it with a net purchase price of $500 million to $650 million, Viacom executives said in a conference call.

 

Steven Spielberg, director of movies like "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan," will stay on at DreamWorks as producer-director and studio co-founder David Geffen will remain as chairman.

 

The two are responsible for producing four to six live action films a year for Paramount, boosting that studio's total output to 14 to 16 pictures in 2006.

 

The deal "will dramatically accelerate the turnaround of Paramount," said Viacom Co-Chief Operating Officer and Co-President Tom Freston.

 

The transaction also sharply raises the profile of Brad Grey, the Paramount chairman and chief executive who was brought in earlier this year to shore up operations after the studio stumbled in recent years. Freston had said Paramount had failed to pursue big budget but risky films that could bring big paydays.

 

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2006, and will not affect the planned split of Viacom into two public companies before the end of 2005.

I'd imagine Dreamworks animation studio is part of the deal here as well no?

[exile]

I do not believe this includes Dreamworks Animation. They spun that off a while back if memory serves. This deal does include the right to distribute those films though.

[kelley]

I wonder who will buy the library.....Sony I'm looking at you.

[secretvampire]

I find it somewhat baffling that they are immediately selling off the library. So they did this just to increase their output of films per year?

[iainl]

I'd imagine they wanted the talent, and possibly the physical studio as well.

[Angry the Clown]

I'd imagine they wanted the talent, and possibly the physical studio as well.

 

Are you speaking of their Animation or general division? Dreamworks has no physical studio. It's an office on the backlot of Universal. Dreamworks Animation does have premises of their own however.

[iainl]

My bad - I didn't realise that those shiny offices were purely for the animation studio.

 

Thread derailing completely for a second, did you hear that almighty explosion yesterday Daniel? It woke us all up quite impressively.

[Angry the Clown]

The oil depot explosion you mean? I went and saw the League of Gentlemen live on Saturday and was subsequently out getting tipsy til 4am on Sunday morning and decided to sleep over at my brother's in Ealing so I didn't hear it, no sir. I have noticed that the smoke seems to be heading our way though as the skies here this morning are rather black. When I got home yesterday I noticed the hatch to the loft had swung open so I assumed it must have done so as a repercussion of the bang.

[iainl]

After much partying on Friday I had a fairly early night on Saturday, so the early morning bang woke us up with a huge start. I didn't think that much of it though, until I stepped out the door, smelled the fumes and glanced to my left:

As you can imagine, I swore a bit.

[iainl]

Anyway, back to Dreamworks and Paramount.