Saban Brands

Last updated
Saban Brands
Company type Division
Industry
PredecessorSaban Entertainment (later BVS Entertainment )
FoundedMay 12, 2010;14 years ago (2010-05-12)
Founder Haim Saban
DefunctJuly 2, 2018;5 years ago (2018-07-02)
FateSplit up, assets sold off
Successor
Headquarters Los Angeles, California,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Number of employees
9
Parent Saban Capital Group
Divisions
  • Saban Brands Lifestyle Group
  • Saban Brands Entertainment Group

Saban Brands was an American brand management and production company and a defunct subsidiary of Saban Entertainment (now BVS Entertainment) based in Los Angeles, California and founded by Haim Saban that was active from 12 May 2010 to 2 July 2018.

History

On 5 May 2010, Saban Capital Group announced a formation of Saban Brands, a successor company to BVS Entertainment, known at the time as Saban Entertainment, that is "dedicated to acquiring entertainment and consumer brands" with a starting investment of $500 million and Elie Dekel, a former licensing and merchandising executive of 20th Century Fox. [1] On 12 May 2010, Saban Brands bought back the Power Rangers franchise including some related shows from the Walt Disney Company for $43 million [2] and would produce a new 19th season of Power Rangers that began airing on Nickelodeon on 7 February 2011, with the previous 700 episodes being rerun on Nicktoons. [3] [4] [5] It was also announced that Saban Brands is in negotiations to buy three other brands. On 17 August, announced that Saban Brands bought Paul Frank Industries. [6] [7]

On May 1, 2012, Kidsco Media Ventures LLC, an affiliate of Saban Capital Group, placed a bid to acquire some of 4Kids Entertainment's assets, including the US rights to the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise and The CW4Kids block, for $10 million. [8] 4K Acquisition Corp, a subsidiary of Konami, then placed a bid. On June 5, 2012, 4Kids commenced an auction between Kidsco and 4K Acquisition which was then adjourned so 4Kids, Kidsco, and 4K Acquisition could consider an alternative transaction. [9] [10] On June 15, 2012, 4Kids filed a notice outlining a proposed deal in which its assets would be divided between Kidsco and 4K Acquisition which was finalized on June 26, 2012. The deal saw 4K Acquisition acquire the US rights to the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise and Kidsco acquire 4Kids' other assets including the agreements for Dragon Ball Z Kai , Cubix: Robots for Everyone , Sonic X and The CW Network's Saturday morning programming block. [11] [12] On July 2, 2012, it was announced that Saban Brands, via Kidsco Media Ventures, would begin programming the block in the fall, [13] [14] [15] [16] and on July 12, 2012, it announced that the block would be named Vortexx, which launched on August 25, 2012, and ended on September 27, 2014. [17] [18]

On June 12, 2012, it was announced that Saban Brands plans to reintroduce the Popples franchise with new merchandise in fall 2013. [19] On August 3, 2012, it was announced that Saban Brands acquired The Playforge, the development team behind App Store success stories Zombie Farm and Zombie Life. [20] On September 19, 2012, Saban Brands announced that they acquired Zui provider of Kid-Safe Online content. [21] On September 25, 2012, Saban Brands announced that they re-acquired the Digimon franchise and its most recent season, Digimon Fusion with Toei Animation handling Asian licensing & distribution and MarVista Entertainment handling all other global licensing & distribution. [22] [23]

On July 3, 2013, it was announced that Saban Brands signed a deal to manage the distribution, licensing, and merchandising of Sendokai Champions in North America and Israel and be broadcast on the Vortexx. [24] In October 2013, Saban Brands shut down The Playforge because of poor game sales.

Saban Brands and Lionsgate Films announced in May 2014 that they were planning to produce a new Power Rangers feature film, and would hopefully launch a Power Rangers film franchise. [25] By August 4, 2014, Saban Brands sold KidZui to LeapFrog Enterprises. [26] Later on, Macbeth Footwear was acquired by Saban Brands, and in December, Saban Brands formed two divisions Saban Brands Lifestyle Group and Saban Brands Entertainment Group to expand their holdings. [27] On January 6, 2014, it was announced that Saban Brands Lifestyle Group acquired Mambo Graphics. [28] On March 24, 2015, it was announced that Saban Brands Lifestyle Group had acquired Piping Hot. [29] Saban Brands developed its first two properties, Kibaoh Klashers and Treehouse Detectives , as animated series which were picked up by Netflix in October 2016. [30]

In February 2018, Saban Brands appointed Hasbro as the global master toy licensee for Power Rangers in April 2019 with a future option to purchase the franchise. [31] On May 1, 2018, Saban agreed to sell Power Rangers and other entertainment assets to Hasbro for US$522 million in cash and stock, with the sale expected to close in the second quarter. Other properties in the deal included My Pet Monster , Popples , Julius Jr. , Luna Petunia , Treehouse Detectives and Saban Brands' content/media libraries [32] [33] (excluding Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty , Sonic X and other properties that were sold to different companies before the deal). Saban's Digimon and Pretty Cure licenses were also transferred to Hasbro, although were later left to expire, thus reverting to Toei Animation Inc. for its international distribution. Only nine existing employees out of sixty would be retained by SCG, and the Saban Brands subsidiary ended operations upon the closure of business on July 2, 2018. [34]

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References

  1. ↑ Barnes, Brooks (5 May 2010). "Haim Saban Goes Into Brand Management". Media Decoder. The New York Times . Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  2. ↑ Bond, Paul (10 August 2010). "Disney's Q3 boosted by TV operations profit; Power Rangers sale added $43 million to coffers". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  3. ↑ Nakashima, Ryan (12 May 2010). "Mogul Saban buys back Power Rangers from Disney". Google News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 16 May 2010. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  4. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (12 May 2010). "Saban re-acquires rights to 'Rangers'". Variety . Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  5. ↑ "Power Rangers morph back into Haim Saban's hands, will air on Nickelodeon". Los Angeles Times . 12 May 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
  6. ↑ "Billionaire Saban buys Julius monkey brand". Google News. Associated Press. August 17, 2010. Archived from the original on August 20, 2010. Retrieved August 17, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Saban Acquires Leading Lifestyle Company Paul Frank Industries". Business Wire . August 17, 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  8. ↑ "4Kids to Sell Yu-Gi-Oh! Assets to Kidsco for US$10 Million (Updated)". Anime News Network. May 1, 2012. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  9. ↑ "4Kids Entertainment Adjourns Section 363 Auction". 4Kids Entertainment. June 8, 2012. Archived from the original on June 23, 2012. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  10. ↑ Whittock, Jesse (June 11, 2012). "4Kids bidders tussle over assets". C21Media. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Konami to Get 4Kids' Yu-Gi-Oh! Assets Under Proposed Deal". Anime News Network. June 16, 2012. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  12. ↑ "4Kids Sells Yu-Gi-Oh!, CW Network-Related Assets Jointly to Konami, Kidsco". Anime News Network. June 26, 2012. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
  13. ↑ Wallenstein, Andrew (July 2, 2012). "Saban Brands to rebuild CW toon block". Variety . Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  14. ↑ Marcucci, Carl (July 3, 2012). "The CW signs Saban Brands for kids block". Radio & Television Business Report. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  15. ↑ "Saban builds CW kids' block". C21Media. July 3, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
  16. ↑ Dickson, Jeremy (July 3, 2012). "Saban and The CW launch kids TV block". KidScreen. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  17. ↑ "'Power Rangers' Backer Saban to Reenter Kiddie TV". Advertising Age. July 12, 2012. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  18. ↑ "Saban Brands to launch Vortexx kid shows on The CW". Los Angeles Business Journal. July 12, 2012. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  19. ↑ Jeremy, Dickson (June 13, 2012). "Saban brings back the Popples". KidScreen. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  20. ↑ "Topgrossing Zombie-Farm dev acquired by Saban". Gamasutra.com. August 3, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
  21. ↑ "Saban Brands buys Zui". L.A. Biz. September 19, 2012. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  22. ↑ Crowe, Deborah (September 25, 2012). "Saban Brands Acquires Digimon Anime Brand". Los Angeles Business Journal. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
  23. ↑ Dickson, Jeremy (September 27, 2012). "Saban Brands acquires Digimon franchise". KidScreen. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  24. ↑ "Saban Takes on Sendokai". License! Mag. ADVANSTAR COMMUNICATIONS INC. July 3, 2013. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  25. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (May 7, 2014). "Lionsgate, Saban Brands Reboot 'Power Rangers' As Pic Franchise". Deadline.com. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
  26. ↑ Perez, Sarah (August 4, 2014). "LeapFrog Buys Kid's Web Browser Maker KidZui". TechCrunch . AOL . Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  27. ↑ Padovano, Joanna (December 12, 2014). "Saban Brands Expands with New Lifestyle & Entertainment Units". World Screen. WSN INC. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  28. ↑ Traill-Nash, Glynis (January 6, 2015). "Surfwear label Mambo bought by US company Saban Brands". The Australian. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  29. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 30, 2015. Retrieved April 13, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  30. ↑ Petski, Denise (October 6, 2016). "Netflix Orders Six New Kids Series Including 'Lego Elves' & Avi Arad's 'Super Monsters'". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
  31. ↑ Sorrentino, Mike (February 15, 2018). "Power Rangers toy maker is moving on after 25 years". CNET . Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  32. ↑ "Hasbro buying Power Rangers, other brands in $522M deal". ABC News. AP. May 1, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
  33. ↑ "Saban Brands Sells Power Rangers to Hasbro for $522M". Los Angeles Business Journal. May 2, 2018. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  34. ↑ Blake, Matthew (May 23, 2018). "Saban Brands Plans Layoffs Following Hasbro Acquisition". Los Angeles Business Journal. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
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