Mergers between animation studios and television producing companies or motion picture distributors is a common trend which helps expand business and gain profits. Following the same tangent, DreamWorks Animation, CEO, Jeffery Katzenberg voiced his interest in a possible merger of his company and Viacom’s Paramount Pictures at a recent investor conference.
At the Morgan Stanley Media and Telecom Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, Katzenberg said, “I could imagine that with a good financial partner coming with us, putting together the asset of Paramount and DreamWorks could be extremely valuable.”
According to him, DWA has marked a journey producing high quality animated films. It seems three years ago, DWA was barely in TV but now the ecosystem has changed. “Television is actually the most valuable segment of our company. It’s our most profitable asset,” he said.
Following a series of film flops such as Penguins of Madagascar and Turbo, DreamWorks Animation has managed to regain its footing with How To Train Your Dragon 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3 having performed well at the box office.
Katzenberg also acknowledged that Viacom was merely looking for an equity partner rather than selling the iconic film studio outright. He added that DWA was “halfway through” its turnaround and would focus on getting back to the consistency of producing a set number of feature films per year and licensing the same.