Dreamworks Animation to Softbank
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01_10062014_sfvbj.qxp 10/2/2014 10:44 AM Page 1 sfvbj.com SAN FERNANDOVALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL LOS ANGELES • GLENDALE • SANTA CLARITA • BURBANK • CONEJO VALLEY • SIMI VALLEY • SAN FERNANDO • CALABASAS • AGOURA HILLS • ANTELOPE VALLEY Volume 19, Number 20 THE COMMUNITY OF BUSINESSTM October 6 - 19, 2014 • $4.00 Up Front Simi Resort May Fly Off REAL ESTATE: Hummingbird Ranch site on the market. By ELLIOT GOLAN Staff Reporter Want some Donkey Kong with Just a few months after getting entitlements your wings? These to build a resort at the Hummingbird Nest two entrepreneurs Ranch, the owner of the unusual Simi Valley may know a place. property has decided to put it up for sale. The 123-acre site is on the market for $49.5 PAGE 3 million, with the brokers at the Beverly Hills office of Sotheby’s International Realty han- dling the upscale listing. Special In late April, Simi Valley granted the ranch’s wealthy owner, David Saperstein of Report Houston, permission to build a hotel, wellness center and spa, conference center and other amenities. Please see REAL ESTATE page 33 Inventive: Bill Howard, CEO of Snap Creative, with the elaborate cases his company makes to help sell DVDs in download era. Play Date for PHOTO BY DAVID SPRAGUE PHOTO BY DAVID DreamWorks? ENTERTAINMENT: SoftBank’s Annual Banking & $3.4 billion offer pumps stock. Finance Report CASE STUDY highlights the By MARK R. MADLER Staff Reporter struggles of local Camarillo firm’s DVD packaging boosts dwindling sales. banks. PAGE 21 The proposed sale of By MARK R. MADLER Staff Reporter specifically made for those retailers. Prices range DreamWorks Animation from $29.99 to $52.99. SGK Inc. to a Japanese tele- Lists he Optimus Prime collectible found on Even in the age of digital downloads and com company probably Target shelves this month is as deceptive as a streaming of feature films and television series, pro- won’t mandate relocation or Staffing firms and TTransformer can be. duction companies distribute content in a physical reorganization of the movie family-owned Sure, the arms and legs pull out and the alien format – and they find there are still profits in studio, experts say. robot’s armor is finely detailed, but this is no mere DVDs, especially if they come with something But it has already businesses. Katzenberg PAGE 10 toy. For on the back is a round case containing a extra that a download cannot provide. pumped life into the stock DVD or Blu-ray copy of “Transformers: Age of “By offering a special collectible artifact or and could inspire others to make a bid for the Extinction,” the fourth entry in the Paramount character from a film in physical form, it makes it Glendale company. MAIL TO: Pictures Corp. sci-fi film franchise. more desirable to buy a physical product,” said Bill SoftBank Corp., in Tokyo, reportedly The “Age of Extinction” packaging is exclusive Howard, chief executive of Snap Creative,the made a $3.4 billion offer for DreamWorks, to Target, while versions sold at Wal-mart and the studio behind the “Shrek,” “Kung Fu Amazon.com come with collectible figurines Please see RETAIL page 34 Please see ENTERTAINMENT page 34 DineEquity CEO Gobbles Up Attention PROFILE: Stewart certainly knows the territory. She was a teenage Julia Stewart raises profile of waitress, before heading to college and a series of man- IHOP with wacky menu items. agement jobs that led her to the top post at IHOP in 2002. Then in 2007, she pulled off an audacious acquisi- By STEPHANIE FORSHEE Staff Reporter tion, buying the faltering Applebee’s for $2.1 billion in debt, creating DineEquity. The recession threatened her Julia Stewart has been getting a lot of press these plans to pay back that debt by franchising Applebee’s days as chief executive of DineEquity Inc., the Glendale outlets. But the deal worked out and these days franchis- company that owns IHOP and Applebee’s. Mostly it’s ing is hot on Wall Street. The Business Journal sat down been about the over-the-top IHOP menu item, the with Stewart to talk about her path to the C-Suite, why Waffullicious Waffle, which comes stuffed with bacon or she’s irritated by questions about balancing work and cream cheese – and enough calories to raise eyebrows. family time, and how she handles her crazy travel sched- That’s just fine with the 59-year-old CEO, who’s on a ule as DineEquity expands globally. mission to raise the profile of her restaurants, better PHOTO BY DAVID SPRAGUE known for comfort food than cutting-edge cuisine. Please see PROFILE page 8 Top Chef: Stewart at Glendale office. Jocelyn Pastore Alba Silberman Business banking, better. Executive Vice President Executive Vice President Regional Manager Senior Relationship Manager 310.207.1517 818.501.2265 16861 Ventura Blvd. Encino, CA 91436 grandpointbank.com 33 35_sfvbj_jumps.qxp 10/1/2014 8:38 PM Page 34 34 SAN FERNANDO VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL OCTOBER 6, 2014 Entertainment: DreamWorks Campus Is Jewel he pointed to the experience of Pixar Continued from page 1 Animation Studios. Its majority owner, the late Steve Jobs, insisted that when Walt Disney Panda,” and “Madagascar” franchises, on Sept. Co. bought the studio in 2006 its culture and 27. Shares jumped up the next trading day, and location in Emeryville stay intact. though they gave back some gains, they closed “There is a strong business argument to Oct. 1 at $26.75, about 20 percent higher than keep operations away from the prying eyes of before the offer. corporate,” Shindler said. And even as talks between the two compa- Steve Hulett, the business representative nies have since cooled, the SoftBank offer for the Animation Guild in Burbank, agrees makes it a company in play. DreamWorks’ with that take. He said that if a sale does go small size, low market capitalization and stable through he did not expect any impact to the of movies present an attractive package. In addi- membership in Glendale, where the union rep- tion, the company has diversification plans that resents more than 500 employees. include television series, online content, and a themed entertainment center in China. Asian connection “They also own (YouTube network) SoftBank was established in 1981 and is a AwesomenessTV, which has a great lock on majority owner in U.S. telecom company Sprint Nextel Corp., and has e-commerce, Shaded: Main Glendale campus employs more than 1,000 workers. DreamWorks Animation (Nasdaq: DWA) technology services, media and marketing SKG Inc. FRI. CLOSE, PAST 5 WKS businesses. Earlier this year, the company con- leadership when noted producer Kathleen Masayoshi Son, also is seen as a maverick Glendale 27 sidered and dropped a bid to buy T-Mobile US Kennedy was named chief executive the with more in common with U.S. executives Oct. 1: $26.75 26 CEO: Jeffrey Katzenberg 25 for $32 billion. month before its acquisition, a move likely than Japanese. Forbes magazine named Son as Employees: 2,200 24 By comparison, DreamWorks’current mar- meeting the approval of Disney, Shindler said. Japan’s richest man with a net worth of more 23 Market Cap: $2.3 billion 22 ket cap is about $2.3 billion after the recent “As far as I can tell there have not been than $20 billion. P/E: N/A 21 stock run- up. wholesale changes in management at The deep pockets of SoftBank would prove 20 EPS: -$0.37 8/29 9/5 9/12 9/19 9/26 If the SoftBank transaction for LucasFilm,” he added. a benefit to DreamWorks, considering the com- Source: Yahoo Finance Dreamworks is finalized it would represent the But Disney did make staffing cuts by clos- pany’s weak financial performance this year. first sale of a Hollywood studio to an Asian ing the LucasArts video game division in This summer the studio had a hit with “How to web properties targeting pre-teens and teens,” company in 25 years. 2013 and letting got more than 100 employ- Train Your Dragon 2,” but previously had a said Eric Wold, an analyst in the San The last was in 1989 when Sony Corp. ees. That, too, could be what’s in store for string of box office bombs that prompted write- Francisco office of B. Riley & Co., a Los acquired Columbia Pictures Entertainment DreamWorks if SoftBank or another new downs, layoffs and a decline in the stock price, Angeles investment bank, which issued a Inc., in Culver City, in a deal valued at $4.9 bil- owner eliminates administrative, legal or which topped $35 a share last December. “neutral” rating for the company in August. lion with financing provided by five Japanese accounting jobs at the headquarters. The studio has taken a total of $158 million DreamWorks Animation was founded in banks. The name was changed to Sony “If they are not separate they might not in write-downs on the 2014 release “Mr. 1994 as the animation portion of the Pictures Entertainment two years later. Sony need that full set of operations,” Shindler said. Peabody and Sherman,” the 2013 release DreamWorks studio started by former Disney Entertainment produces both feature films and “Turbo” and 2012’s “Rise of the Guardians.” executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, film director television programming. Competing candidates The summer release “How to Train Your Steven Spielberg and record producer David Top studio deals since 2006 include Disney’s DreamWorks isn’t the only entertainment Dragon 2” will likely recoup its expenses which Geffen. The company was spun off in 2004 and $4.2 billion acquisition of Marvel Entertainment, company on SoftBank’s radar.