Comcast Buys DreamWorks Buys UPA
Comcast Buys DreamWorks Buys UPA
Comcast, the cable giant that owns Universal Pictures, has offered to buy DreamWorks Animation, the successful offspring of the movie studio formed by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen. In making this purchase, Comcast thus acquires Classic Media, the company that holds the intellectual property rights to UPA and its characters, including Mr. Magoo. DreamWorks refashioned this company into DreamWorks Classics.
The Comcast deal is the latest step in the process described in chapter 10 of Adam Abraham’s book “When Magoo Flew.” Henry Saperstein bought controlling interest in UPA in 1960. After producing various television specials and series, he tried, unsuccessfully, to sell his UPA holdings. After Saperstein’s death, his widow and children sold the company to Classic Media. The Los Angeles Times reported a valuation of around $4 million.
Classic Media itself was sold more than once before it was absorbed by DreamWorks in July 2012, just four months after “When Magoo Flew” was published. Classic Media sold for $155 million, and DreamWorks Animation was valued at $3.8 billion.
Along with the UPA characters, Comcast’s acquisition of Classic Media gives it control over Archie, Casper the Friendly Ghost, the Lone Ranger, and Jay Ward’s television characters (including Rocky and Bullwinkle). Magoo and his UPA brethren don’t seem to rate an appearance on the DreamWorks web site--assimilated and forgotten. In the words of “When Magoo Flew,” the Comcast deal marks “the final triumph of the corporate over the individual, the power of finance over the flight of the imagination.”
For more on Comcast, click here. For DreamWorks, click here.
April 28, 2016