This from today's Daily Variety: "Ending months of nervous speculation on Wall Street, Paul Allen has at last exercised a right to force DreamWorks Animation to sell millions of shares in a so-called secondary offering following the company's IPO in 2004." The piece goes on to say that the request represents "...a vote of no confidence in the studio's next toon ("Flushed Away")..."
Allen will still have a massive stake in DreamWorks after this sale, and by selling this chunk of stock at a low he'll be allocated a larger number of shares for his remaining investment. While the secondary offering will likely push the stock price lower in the short run, this move will actually relieve Wall Street by ending speculation on when Allen would exercise his secondary offering option, and by giving the company a more transparent corporate structure.
Of course, coupled with the reported divorce between Aardman and DreamWorks, it doesn't raise the prospects for "Flushed Away."
Posts
5 comments:
There was a rumor that Viacom/Paramount was planning to purchase DreamWorks Animation, but Sumner Redstone has put the kibosh on that idea by stating flatly Viacom WON'T be buying DWA.
Of course, corporate chieftans can always change their minds, though I doubt Sumner will change HIS anytime soon.
It appears we're in for a season of restructuring at the various animation companies. I've been told that Robert Iger and associates are soon to view the work-in-progress "Tinkerbell." Be interesting to find out what his reaction to it is.
Frankly, Aardman is doing some of the best work out there.
Maybe it'll be good for them to get out of their association with Dreamworks.
tinkerbell is being animated in india by the way
A truly dumb idea.
If any animated project called out for traditional animation -- this one was it. Why they went with CGI on this project boggles the mind. Perhaps the bean counters thought it might be cheaper to go the CGI route. Wrong again.
No pixie dust on this movie -- just dust.
I'm not crazy about Tink talking.
CGI animation will be done in India...but there's a small crew in Burbank too.
Post a Comment