There’s a law of nature which states nothing in this world is permanent and someday or the other it will change. Seems the time to bid adieu to DreamWorks Animation has finally arrived for Jeffrey Katzenberg. On Monday, the deal which was initiated less that four months ago has finally been sealed. The $3.8 billion deal between Comcast and DreamWorks Animation, is closed. The animation studio, which has so far given hit franchises like Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and How To Train Your Dragon, is now part of NBCUniversal’s Universal Filmed Entertainment Group — a movie-related catch-all that also includes Universal Pictures, ticketing site Fandango, and NBCU’s own Brand Development arm.
The staff at DreamWorks Animation will always remember the day 22 August as DWA, CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg bade farewell to the company he founded. He sent out a letter to one and all as Monday was the final day in which the animation studio’s shares traded on the Nasdaq stock market. Investors will receive $41 in cash for each share of DWA common stock.
Katzenberg will now be handling DreamWorks New Media which includes property like AwesomenessTV, as a chairman. Apart from $400 million in cash from the deal, he will also become a consultant to Universal-parent company Comcast.
Here’s what the letter says:
As I’ve said to many of you over the past week, my work is my happiness. And for 22 years, my happiness has been DreamWorks. But DreamWorks isn’t the beautiful campus, the fountain, the panini maker or even the movies, TV shows and incredible entertainment we’ve created together.
To me, DreamWorks is all of you, the people, who have made it all happen over the years, and who will continue to do so after I drive through those gates for the last time.
But, as Jakob Jensen, a longtime colleague of ours recently reminded me (via Dr Seuss): “don’t cry because it’s over, be happy because it happened.” I couldn’t agree more, and I will happily take with me memories of working with incredibly talented individuals from around the globe, united by an amazing goal: to bring joy, wonder and laughter to the world.
So, thank you for this remarkable place of green ogres, fighting pandas, swashbuckling cats, stranded zoo animals, prehistoric cave people, six-legged aliens, flying dragons, and so much more. I may be heading out the door, but these are the real stars of DreamWorks, and they will remain. And their numbers will continue to grow, soon to be joined by electric-haired trolls and an extremely bossy baby.
Looking down the road, I can’t wait to grab my popcorn and watch DWA keep raising the bar in the years ahead.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you all so very much for so very much.
With this, Comcast now has plenty of potential hits from DWA under its pipeline as DWA is working on two projects; Trolls that’s set to release on 4 November, 2016 and The Boss Baby scheduled to hit the screens on 31 March, 2017. Along with these, the sequels to the hit features – The Croods, How To Train Your Dragon and Shrek are also in the pipeline.
