Teletubbies owner DHX Media has acquired control of the classic children’s brands “Peanuts” and Strawberry Shortcake as part of a $345 million acquisition of Iconix Brand Group’s entertainment division, the company announced Wednesday.
The Iconix assets include all of the Strawberry Shortcake brand and 80 percent of “Peanuts,” with the remaining 20 percent maintained by the family of the comic’s late creator, Charles M. Schulz.
The Halifax, Canada-based DHX Media gets 340 half-hour segments of new content, and announced its plans to “mine an underexploited library for global distribution and expansion into new territories and channels,” including YouTube.
“Over the past 10 years, DHX Media has become a global leader in children’s entertainment content, building scale across production, distribution and consumer products and is perfectly positioned to benefit from the incredible growth of streaming services, worldwide,” DHX CEO Dana Landry said in a statement.
“DHX Media feels like a perfect fit for ‘Peanuts,’” said Jean Schulz, widow of the creator of Snoopy and Charlie Brown. “We respect their innovative and rich history with developing children’s shows and brands, and we look forward to working with Dana and his team to steward ‘Peanuts’ in the future.”
Iconix acquired the controlling share of the “Peanuts” brand in 2010 as part of a deal with United Features Syndicate and the E.W. Scripps company, and picked up Strawberry Shortcake in 2015 from card producer American Greetings, which originated the character in 1979.
RBC Capital Markets and Jefferies Finance, LLC will help finance the deal for DHX.