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Report: Comcast In Talks To Buy DreamWorks For $3 Billion (usatoday.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the fun-for-the-whole-family dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from USA Today: Comcast is in talks to buy DreamWorks Animation in a multi-billion-dollar deal, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg are reporting. The cost of the deal would be more than $3 billion, according to both news organizations, citing unnamed sources. Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, has been searching for a buyer for the company, which has a current market value of $2.3 billion. DreamWorks is based in Glendale, Calif., and was founded in 1994 by Katzenberg, filmmaker Steven Spielberg and movie and music executive David Geffen. The animation unit was spun off in 2004. Philadelphia-based Comcast has two primary businesses, Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal. Comcast also owns Universal Parks and Resorts. Comcast already owns an animation studio, Illumination Entertainment, known for its work on the Despicable Me and Minions movies.

10 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. I for one... by freedom_surfer · · Score: 4, Funny

    I for one welcome our new cable overlords.

    1. Re:I for one... by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually, it's our new "entertainment" overlords. Are people really okay with a single company not only controlling a huge amount of media content creation, but the (occasionally exclusive) delivery mechanism for that media as well? That seems tailor made for a built-in conflict of interest right there. These media conglomerates are getting ridiculous. I mean, thank goodness we actually have an alternative to cable TV in streaming media these days, but even so, a lot of people still rely on cable modems for their internet as well.

      What's perhaps most irritating to me is the notion that a company ends up getting so big that you can barely avoid doing any business with it. It will be a cold day in hell before I subscribe to Comcast cable again in my lifetime, but must I now avoid all Dreamworks films as well (or at least *paying* for them), assuming this deal happens?

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    2. Re:I for one... by freedom_surfer · · Score: 2

      I agree. I had the same thought the other day thinking about Netflix and how I like their original programming. What if they became the only game in town? Would they continue to be good after they had a controlling market share?

      Our only healthy choice is to make sure there are many players and many choices.

      (except if we have an 'overlord', then of course I was always with them.... :P)

    3. Re:I for one... by Gr8Apes · · Score: 2

      Had the FTC included 1 founding rule in their charter, the 10% rule, these types of situations could be avoided. The 10% rule is simple: if your company via a merger or acquisition will exceed 10% of any market, you may not merge/acquire.

      It admittedly destroys the bigger plays on Wall Street, but I'm pretty sure no one cares except those 0.001%. It certainly plays to bigger competition and will require proper regulation of imports to prevent unfair trade practices.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
  2. Re:Put Comcast out of business by The+New+Guy+2.0 · · Score: 3

    You don't shut Comcast down, you spin off NBCU and the problem is solved.

  3. dear Comcast.... by Lumpy · · Score: 3

    how about fucking spending money on your infrastructure first?

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:dear Comcast.... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They are spending money on infrastructure. The more deals and schemes they put in place to keep the competition out the more valuable their network gets.

      Or did you mean spend money on improving it? For that, your best move is to get Google Fibre to come to your town.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  4. Where the Money is going by Striikerr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Interesting that Comcast imposes data caps and charges a pile of money for internet access, complaining that they need to do this to help manage their network infrastructure instead of investing back into infrastructure to accommodate their paying customers. Instead, they take money gained from their customers and use it to buy other companies. This is why it's so frustrating to see the FCC not push harder on these companies to prevent/remove data caps and increase bandwidth for customers, especially since the companies are doing all they can to punish customers for cord cutting. As a cable company, should they not focus on providing the best service available for their customers?
    I would be all in favor of Comcast's efforts to become a content creator if they were't using their position against their customers who don't want their content via a cable subscription.

  5. Next acquisition by rfrenzob · · Score: 2

    In other news, Comcast is in talks to buy the local water department.

  6. Phone call... by archer,+the · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So, we'll each need to make a 3 hour phone call to leave the theater after the movie's over?