Billionaire Saban in Talks to Buy Muppet Makers

[radionate]

Originally posted by beaker
Um.....Actually I went to edit my grammar in that post, as I was just quoting Luke from his above statements. Might I suggest some ventilation in your office? ^_^

rriiiiigggghhhhhttttt

 

[Bean Bunny]

There had been interest from bigger media companies, such as Viacom Inc. and Disney Corp., but those talks disintegrated, according to media reports.

This is some very very bad news. It look like Mr. Saban and the owners of the National Enquier ( Why?) will buy the Muppet.

No Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnoooo No NO NO NO NO NO NO NO No No NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnoooo No NO NO NO NO NO NO NO No No NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnoooo No NO NO NO NO NO NO NO No No NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnoooo No NO NO NO NO NO NO NO No No NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

Okay, I feel better.

 

[AbbessBryony]

I didn't know about this until this week and I was really shocked. I'm over the shock and I don't mind if Saban buys the Muppets. Or Disney, for that matter.

 

[BoyRaisin2]

First I'd like to say:

NO. NO NO N-NO NO NO. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. O.

N. O. NYO. NYO. n-ni-n-o. NOPE. UH-UH.

That felt nice, no!

Secondly, why do I blame Disney for this? If they didn't buy Fox Family (and the Saban library) from Saban for billions of dollars in July 2001, it wouldn't have made him a big investor billionaire and he would still have his Power Rangers and Digimon to play with while the Mouse (who you guys suddenly love, reminiscent of February 2000) would still be circling around Henson like they were in March of 2001...and before.

Weird, Disney owns the Power Rangers, and Saban might own the Muppets. Cringe (to both).

I don't know, I just don't, NO!

Well, at least I finally know what the guy looks like.

 

[JamieDenny]

Hmmm

wow Look what happens when you don't check out MC everyday. You find that a billionaire has is attempting to buy the Muppets.
Remember what happened when a mouse loving entertainment company went to Texas billionaires and asked for some help?
Maybe Saban will be a hands off guy, maybe he won't.
Perhaps he wants to buy the Muppets and then give complete creative control back to the people at Henson.
Whilst it seems sad that all the hard work that the Imagineers have done might go to waste the mouse has been less than enthusiastic, if it had really wanted the Muppets it would have negotiated EMTV to get a price it thought was fair.
Perhaps if Mr Eisner was a little more fiscally prudent then you guys would have got your wish and had the Muppets where you wanted them.
Back to Saban people are worried about the Muppets not being in American hands, this guy has served on a foreign trade board for the American Government and I'm sure he's as American as an 'outsider' can be.
Okay the man has produced pretty dubious kids entertainment but what you forget is that in their time the Power Rangers were must have accessories for any discerning child of a certain age.
Saban may bulk up their profile then sell them on to Disney for a higher price.
As for the Muppets not being the crown jewels any more, from our point if view, yes of course they are and always will be, but we are not the ones buying the Muppets when their last two movies didn't do great, a direct to video realese was universally panned *I LOVED IT But I'm not in charge here* EMTV payed over the Odds for them, Disney were going to give $150million but aslong with the Muppets they would have got Jim Henson's creative services, well worth that.
Sadly Jim is no longer with us which even though we may hate it diminishes the market value of any deal. What I guess I'm saying is in the Disney Deal of the 80's the equasion was something like this Muppets=$100million Dollars Jim Henson's Creative genius=$50million.
Do i think the Muppets are being sold down the river? Who Knows only time will tell. Interesting Times These Are

 

[Muppets1985]

LOOKY Looky...

**There had been interest from bigger media companies, such as Viacom Inc. and Disney Corp., but those talks disintegrated, according to media reports. EM.TV has already sold the "Sesame Street" Muppets characters to Sesame Workshop, and also has dumped Henson's shares in Crown Media Holdings Inc.

EM.TV may still be talking with at least one other suitor, which would preclude exclusive negotiations for now with the Saban/Evercore team, said one person close to the situation.**

Does THIS mean Disney COULD still be in the running at Piggy & co., Or not?? God I hope so!!

 

[Bean Bunny]

I think not, it states in the article that both Disney and Viacom has disscussion but they didn't go anywhere. So it looks Mr. Saban is the soon to be winner of the Muppets. I dig some information on Saban past show, specifically animated. Mr.Saban started a company in 1977 that did animation and later in the 80's formed Saban Entertainment. Both theses were sold to Disney last year with the purcharse of Fox Family Channel.
http://www.sipanimation.com/flash/eng/prod-02.html

The only way that I am for this sale, is if Mr.Saban put Kelly Ripa in a Sexy bunny outfit singing a song with Bean.

 

[rdurantjr]

Hey, anybody got $55mil lying around?

Now, I don't claim to be a business guru, but I do know this:

EM.TV is trading at 0.74 Euros per share today.

The Euro is about equal to the US dollar these days (0.986442 Euros per $1 US).

There are 145,854,116 shares of EM.TV (57% outstanding), for a total market capitalization of $106.5 million.

To own a controlling interest in the WHOLE COMPANY (not just purchase the Jim Henson Company), one would need to own 51% of the shares of EM.TV. Cost? Less than $55 million.

Am I missing something? Even at a premium, a take-over bid for the entire EM.TV company should be significantly less than the $100+ million being discussed.

Oh, if only I had a rich uncle.

 

[Drtooth]

I still can't agree with the "horrors" that DIsney would do to the Muppets. People are saying "muppet Theme park rides and restaraunts" like it's a bad thing. Apparently, this person has never heard of Sesame Place. Even with a nasty woman in a Cookie Monster Suit, there's no way to stop me from wanting to go (something, is stopping me from going, however, a bunch of paper green things, or lack thereof).

If I could go to Disneyworld, the first thing I'd do is go to the Muppet rides and stuff! I'm not a HUGE Disney fan, so I like to go out of the peramiters of the park and copyrights and see Non- Disney things at a Disney park. Come on. I'd love to see people in Kermit, Fozzie, and Piggy costumes roaming the park along with the Mickey, Goofy, and Snow White (SNOW WHITE!!! SNOW WHITE!! HAAAA AAAAH HAAAA!!!) costumes.

But if they buy them, I don't see them over exposing them as badly as they did Winnie the Pooh, or to a less annoying extent Buzz Lightyear (I like the movie and the show and all, but his stuff is getting kinda freaky!!!). I think I see a couple of bean bags here, a christmas orniment there... maybe even rereleasing Muppet Babies, and Fraggle Rock (live action, of course) to video and DVD.

 

[sidcrowe]

Why don't we all buy lottery tickets and take a crazy chance on buying them ourselves?

I'd pay a dollar to be a member at MC.