After initiating talks of creating a combined family entertainment company, toymaker Hasbro and DreamWorks Animation have broken their merger negotiations.
Just a couple of days ago, rumor was that Hasbro had plans of acquiring DreamWorks Animation in a merger that would see DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg take the reins of the new joint family entertainment venture.
Hasbro stock fell 6.1 per cent after the merger talks became public, with analysts questioning both the logic of the move and DreamWorks’ steep asking price. Once word slipped out about talks having halted, Hasbro stock rebounded 2.7 per cent.
This isn’t the first time that DreamWorks’ merger talks ended right after they began. In September, Japan’s SoftBank was stated to be in talks to purchase the animation studio. But talks apparently slowed down soon after.
Whether the merger is completely off the table or just temporarily on hold is unclear.