Cashing In

DWA sells a holding at a profit.

DreamWorks Animation may have had some trouble with potential deals that leaked before completion, but the company struck one on Thursday involving AwesomenessTV, an online media company.

The Hollywood studio said that it sold a 25 percent stake in the venture to Hearst for $81.25 million.

The transaction values two-year-old AwesomenessTV at about $325 million, significantly more than the $33 million that DreamWorks Animation paid for the company last year. ...

When you pick up 100% of something for $33, and sell a quarter of it for $81.25, you have made a killing.

The trick for Jeffrey Katzenberg is to hang on to assets that increase in value, while building cash reserves to finance new hit movies. Maybe the partial sale of a hot corner of a subsidiary will enable him to do that.