Japan's SoftBank is reportedly in talks to buy DreamWorks Animation
Japanese telecom giant SoftBank is reportedly in talks to buy DreamWorks Animation, according to The Wall Street Journal and The Hollywood Reporter.
SoftBank has extra money to spare thanks to its stake in Alibaba, the biggest IPO in history. The reported deal values DreamWorks Animation at $3.4 billion, though its market capitalization was $1.9 billion as of Friday. SoftBank shares rose Monday after news of the talks.
DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg has reportedly been on the hunt for a buyer for the studio, which has struggled at the box office in recent years. SoftBank may be interested in DreamWorks Animation, Hollywood's largest independent animation studio, because it could provide Softbank with media content for its mobile networks.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
While the news is still speculation — it's unclear how close this deal actually is — the reports suggest that SoftBank has offered DreamWorks Animation $32 per share, an increase from the studio's current $22 per share price.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.
-
The most anticipated movies of 2026The Week Recommends If the trailers are anything to go by, film buffs are in for a treat
-
The biggest viral moments of 2025In the Spotlight From the Coldplay concert kiss cam to a celebrity space mission, these are some of the craziest, and most unexpected, things to happen this year
-
Environment breakthroughs of 2025In Depth Progress was made this year on carbon dioxide tracking, food waste upcycling, sodium batteries, microplastic monitoring and green concrete
-
TikTok secures deal to remain in USSpeed Read ByteDance will form a US version of the popular video-sharing platform
-
Unemployment rate ticks up amid fall job lossesSpeed Read Data released by the Commerce Department indicates ‘one of the weakest American labor markets in years’
-
US mints final penny after 232-year runSpeed Read Production of the one-cent coin has ended
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
