Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment have announced an agreement to acquire the 41% stake in the 'Peanuts' brand, including Charlie Brown and Snoopy, from the Canadian company WildBrain, the company reported in a press release. Sony will pay WildBrain 630 million Canadian dollars for the 41% stake, equivalent to approximately 457 million dollars. According to the statement, the agreement is already signed, but the closing of the transaction is subject to certain conditions, including regulatory approvals. Once the transaction is completed, Sony Music and Sony Pictures will control 80% of Peanuts Holdings LLC, which will become a consolidated subsidiary of the Sony Group. 'The members of the family of Charles M. Schulz, creator of 'Peanuts,' will continue to own the remaining 20%,' the statement says. The ownership of the Peanuts rights and the management of its business will remain with Peanuts Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Peanuts Holdings LLC. Since 2018, when Sony acquired a stake in Peanuts Holdings LLC, Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) has driven the expansion of the business and the strengthening of the 'Peanuts' brand, considered a top-tier intellectual property. 'With this additional stake, we are excited to be able to further increase the value of the 'Peanuts' brand by leveraging the extensive global network and collective expertise of the Sony Group,' said Shunsuke Muramatsu, President and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan). 'Sony has been an excellent partner to the 'PEANUTS' brand for many years, and we are confident that Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the gang are in good hands with them,' wrote Josh Scherba, President and CEO of WildBrain. Under the agreement, WildBrain will remain tied to the franchise for several years as a strategic partner, acting as the exclusive licensing agent for consumer products in various territories. Additionally, it will continue as the exclusive production studio for new brand content, including the feature film already announced in partnership with Apple TV, a renewed agreement through 2030, and will maintain the distribution of this content, as well as the management of the official Snoopy channel on YouTube. On October 2 of last year, 'Peanuts,' the comic strip that tells the adventures of Snoopy and his friend Charlie Brown, celebrated 75 years of its large-scale publication. Apple TV+ has hosted the Peanuts classics collection since 2020, although its collaboration with the Schulz heirs to stream original content began in 2018.
