Saban Capital Group

Last updated

Saban Capital Group LLC
Company type Private
Industry
  • Private equity
  • Entertainment
  • Media
  • Merchandising
  • Communications
Predecessor Saban Entertainment
FoundedOctober 24, 2001;23 years ago (2001-10-24)
Founder Haim Saban
Headquarters Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Haim Saban (Chairman, CEO)
  • Adam Chesnoff (President/COO)
Products
Divisions
  • Saban Ventures
  • Saban Films
  • Saban Music Group
Subsidiaries
Website www.saban.com

Saban Capital Group LLC is an American investment company based in Los Angeles, California focused on media, entertainment and communications. Formed in 2001 by Haim Saban, Saban Capital Group owns Saban Films, [1] [2] and co-owns Celestial Tiger Entertainment. [3] [4]

Contents

History

In October 2006, SCG's Saban Entertainment Group division announced the beginning of its virtual studio program for starting up and developing family entertainment. [5] In March 2007, Univision Communications was sold to Broadcasting Media Partners which includes Saban Capital Group, Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, TPG Capital, and Thomas H. Lee Partners. [6] On October 17, 2011, Saban Capital Group acquired 7.5% stake in Jakarta-based Indonesian largest integrated media company, Media Nusantara Citra. [7] [8] [9] In July 2012, Saban Capital Group acquired minority stake in PT MNC Sky Vision Tbk, the largest pay-TV operator in Indonesia which owns Indovision and Top TV. [10] In June 2012, Kidsco Media Ventures LLC, a SCG affiliate, jointly with Konami's 4K Acquisition Corp. purchased some of the key assets of 4Kids Entertainment with Kidsco getting the Dragon Ball Z Kai, Cubix, Sonic X and The CW Network's Saturday Morning programming block contract rights. [11] In August 2012, Saban Capital Group launched a new music publishing division called "Music Ventures". [12] On September 13, 2018, Saban Capital Acquisition Corp. announced the purchase of Panavision and Sim Video International in a $622 million cash and stock deal. [13] The transaction was aimed at creating a comprehensive production and post-production entity. Saban Capital Acquisition Corp. proposed a change of name to Panavision Holdings Inc., but expected to continue to trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange. [14] Saban ended up terminating its deal to acquire Panavision on March 1, 2019. [15]

Saban Entertainment Group

Libraries

Saban Brands

On May 5, 2010, Saban Capital Group announced that it would start Saban Brands (SB), a successor company to Saban Entertainment (later known as BVS Entertainment) dedicated to acquiring entertainment and consumer brands. [1] On May 12 the same year, 2010, Saban Brands bought back the Power Rangers franchise and some of its some related shows from the Walt Disney Company for $43 million [18] and would produce a new nineteenth season of Power Rangers that began airing on Nickelodeon on February 7, 2011, with the previous 700 episodes being rerun on Nicktoons. [2] [19] In February 2018, Saban Brands appointed Hasbro as the global master toy licensee for Power Rangers beginning in April 2019 with a future option to purchase the franchise. [20] 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 [21] [22] (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. [23]

Saban Films

Saban Films
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Film production
FoundedMay 6, 2014;10 years ago (2014-05-06)
Founder Haim Saban
Headquarters Los Angeles, California,
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Bill Bromiley (president)
Products Motion pictures
Parent Saban Capital Group
Divisions SCG Films
Website www.sabanfilms.com

On May 6, 2014, Saban Capital announced the launch of Saban Films (SF), a distribution company that will acquire yearly 8 to 10 feature films for the North American market. [24]

Units

Investments

Current

Past

Political activities

The Saban Group is a top contributor to the Democratic Party. It has donated to former President Barack Obama's campaign [26] and was one of the top donors of the Clinton Campaign of 2016 with a contribution of approximately 12 million dollars. [27]

Related Research Articles

Digimon, short for "Digital Monsters", is a Japanese media franchise, which encompasses virtual pet toys, anime, manga, video games, films, and a trading card game. The franchise focuses on the eponymous creatures that inhabit a "Digital World", which is a parallel universe that originated from Earth's various communication networks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hasbro</span> American multinational toy and entertainment company

Hasbro, Inc. is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herman Hassenfeld and is incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of Kenner, Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, and Wizards of the Coast, among others. As of August 2020, over 81.5% of its shares were held by large financial institutions.

Power Rangers is an entertainment and merchandising franchise created by Haim Saban, Shuki Levy and Shotaro Ishinomori and built around a live-action superhero television series, based on Japanese tokusatsu franchise Super Sentai and currently owned by American toy and entertainment company Hasbro through a dedicated subsidiary, SCG Power Rangers LLC. It was first produced in 1993 by Saban Entertainment, which Saban sold to the Walt Disney Company and then brought back under his now-defunct successor company Saban Brands within his current company, Saban Capital Group, the Power Rangers television series takes much of its footage from the Super Sentai television series produced by Toei Company. The first Power Rangers entry, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, debuted on August 28, 1993, and helped launch the Fox Kids programming block of the 1990s, during which it catapulted into popular culture along with a line of action figures and other toys by Bandai. By 2001, the media franchise had generated over $6 billion in toy sales.

<i>VR Troopers</i> Television series

VR Troopers is a syndicated live-action superhero-adventure television series produced and distributed by Saban Entertainment from 1994 to 1996. The show tried to profit from the fascination with virtual reality in the mid-1990s as well as the success of Saban's other property, Power Rangers. VR Troopers was the first official "sister series" to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Much like it, this was an Americanization of a Japanese tokusatsu children's program series by Toei Company. The series is a co-production of Toei and Cyberprod.

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ABC Family Worldwide is a subsidiary of the Disney ABC Networks division of The Walt Disney Company that operates American basic cable channel ABC Family and manages the programming libraries of Disney's subsidiaries BVS Entertainment and Fox Kids/Jetix.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haim Saban</span> Israeli–American media proprietor, investor (born 1944)

Haim Saban is an Israeli-American media proprietor, investor, musical composer and producer of records, film, and television. A businessman with interests in financial services, entertainment, and media, and an estimated net worth of $2.8 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 232nd richest person in America. Saban is the founder of Saban Entertainment, producer and distributor of children's television programs in the US such as Power Rangers. He headed up consortiums which purchased the broadcasters ProSiebenSat.1 Media and Univision Communications. He is a major donor to the United States Democratic Party and active in pro-Israel political efforts in the United States. In March 2017, Saban was honored with the 2,605th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his achievements in television.

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Saban Brands was an American brand management and production company and a defunct subsidiary of Saban Capital Group based in Los Angeles, California. Founded by Israeli American media mogul Haim Saban as a successor to an earlier company he co-founded, Saban Entertainment, it was active from 12 May 2010 to 2 July 2018.

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Vortexx was an American Saturday morning children's television programming block that aired on The CW from August 25, 2012 to September 27, 2014. Programmed by Saban Brands, it replaced Toonzai, a block that was programmed by 4Kids Entertainment until its bankruptcy. The Vortexx block primarily featured animated programs, although it also featured several live-action series, including the Lost Galaxy installment of the Power Rangers franchise, and the WWE wrestling series Saturday Morning Slam.

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References

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