Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Haul From DreamWorks Sale: $408 Million

Steven Spielberg set to collect a pile of dough too

Jeffrey Katzenberg stands to make $408 million from his stake in the DreamWorks Animation studio he cofounded after a $3.8 billion takeover by Comcast, based on his holdings detailed in a regulatory filing this month.

And fellow co-founder Steven Spielberg’s 4.6 million shares are worth $187.6 million.

Katzenberg holds more stock than any other individual investor in the company, counting both his 2.1 million Class A shares that can trade on the open market and his 7.8 million Class B shares that give him special voting rights. Katzenberg owns the entirety of DreamWorks’ Class B stock since his co-founder David Geffen swapped his own for Class A shares in 2012.

With both classes valued equally in the deal, Katzenberg’s stock holdings are worth $408.3 million.

A stake the size of Katzenberg’s would have been worth that much only twice in DreamWorks Animation’s history as a public company: the six months after its IPO and again in early 2010.

Among its three founders, Geffen is the only one left out. After 2012, he ceased to be listed as a holder of more than 5 percent of the company’s stock — that’s the threshold at which investors are required to disclose their stake.

The Comcast deal will have Katzenberg transition from running the company to becoming chairman of DreamWorks New Media, which includes its ownership of Awesomeness TV, a digital video venture aimed at teens, and Nova, a software startup within the company. He will also serve as a consultant to NBCUniversal.

Katzenberg is set to receive compensation worth about $21.9 million if he leaves DreamWorks in the midst of a change in control, according to the company’s proxy filing this month.

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