Entertainment One founder Darren Throop is in talks with Hasbro to acquire the film and TV production and distribution unit he sold to the toy giant in 2019. The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
JP Morgan and Centerview Partners have conducted a formal auction for eOne, which has a film and TV library of approximately 6,500 titles and a branded film and TV scripting company that produces and finances content such as Dungeons & Dragons: honor among thieves, The Queen of Women, Yellow jackets And The rookie franchise. Bloomberg first reported the conversations with Throop on Thursday.
It has emerged that Throop is in talks with CVC Capital Partners, a Luxembourg-based private equity firm with other media interests, about bringing funding to the table to buy back certain assets from eOne. In mid-November 2022, Hasbro first announced that it was exploring a possible sale of eOne.
Any potential sale of eOne will likely keep Hasbro Peppa Pig and other key properties acquired when the toymaker acquired the Toronto-based indie studio four years ago as part of a $4 billion cash transaction.
Hasbro divesting parts of eOne, should a deal be struck, aims to allow the company to focus on brand assets such as Peppa Pig, Transformers And Dungeons and Dragons as it looks set to become a digital games giant under new CEO Chris Cocks.
Initiating the formal sales process for eOne also follows CEO Throop’s signal that he would leave the Hasbro division at the end of 2022 as he is serving his current employment contract. Hasbro initially acquired eOne to turn the toymaker into a media candidate, as it combined the indie studio’s film and TV unit with its own.
The idea of becoming a Hollywood producer a la Marvel Studios was spearheaded by CEO Brian Goldner, who died in October 2021. The pandemic disrupted that media strategy with a halt to Hollywood production and content delivery delays as the industry reopened.
Hasbro has now focused on becoming a digital gaming powerhouse after fending off a proxy battle with an activist investor, Alta Fox Capital Management. Any move to sell part or all of eOne to reinvest in fewer, more profitable properties, and to do so with outside partners to reduce costs and risk, was welcomed by Wall Street investors.
