The latest cost-cutting at the studio comes ahead of a $500 million deal for the Hasbro film and TV unit to be sold to the Hollywood studio and completed by the last week of December.
News of the sale — which broke just ahead of Hasbro’s 2Q 2023 earnings call, scheduled for Thursday morning — comes nearly four years to the date when Hasbro announced its intent to acquire eOne in a $3.8 billion deal in August 2019.
Hasbro has completed its $3.8 billion all-cash acquisition of Entertainment One. The merger gives Hasbro access to a pool of valuable international brands, including the wildly popular children’s character Peppa Pig, along with PJ Masks, Clifford the Big Red Dog and the upcoming Ricky Zoom. Those join Hasbro’s already lucrative existing catalog of properties — which includes Transformers, G.I. Joe, Ouija and what it gained last year after buying the remaining stake in the Mark Gordon Co., the independent TV and film studio behind Grey’s Anatomy.
Production company Entertainment One said Tuesday the investigation led it to conclude no unlawful or inappropriate behavior was committed by the co-workers accused by Afton Williamson.
Exclusives
Toymaker Hasbro is acquiring studio Entertainment One in an all-cash transaction valued at $4 billion, bringing My Little Pony and Nerf under the same umbrella as Peppa Pig and PJ Masks and furthering Hasbro’s growth goals in the infant and preschool categories. Hasbro aims to expand its operations in film and TV.
Producer Mark Gordon has been named chief content officer for Entertainment One, the indie distributor that acquired 51% of his busy production banner in early 2015. With Gordon’s elevation to president and chief content officer, eOne will buy out the remaining 49% of Mark Gordon Co. for $209 million. As part of the shuffle, longtime eOne TV chief John Moryaniss will step down after a period of transition. Steve Bertram, formerly co-president of film, TV, and digital, has been upped to president.
Entertainment One and Hulu have sealed an exclusive streaming deal for multiple eOne series totaling 240 hours.
An agreement with Entertainment One gives Ion exclusive U.S. rights to the Private Eyes investigative drama starring Jason Priestley.
