DHX rebranding as WildBrain

Three weeks after announcing a new CEO with a background in developing family-based entertainment products, DHX Media Ltd. announced Monday -- alongside its 2019 fourth quarter results -- that it would rebrand as WildBrain and reorganize itself around family-entertainment. On August 30, the Halifax-based company announced that it was putting Eric Ellenbogen in charge of the company after stints at Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal and DreamWorks Animation. “Rebranding as WildBrain embraces our commitment to creativity, imagination and innovation, and our 360 approach to brand management. For many years, our WildBrain group has been at the leading edge of the digital media business,” Ellenbogen said in a release Monday. The company also announced a revenue increase of 12 per cent to $108.8 million in its fourth quarterly earnings. In a note released Monday, Canaccord Genuity analyst Aravinda Galappatthige said that the revenue results came in behind Canaccord’s $129.8 million estimate but higher than the general consensus of $100 million. DHX said that as part of its restructuring it would initiate a “reorganization” of its management team, which would cost it “one-time cash reorganization charges” of $10 to $12 million, but that would generate savings of $10 million annually, the company said in the release. In 2017, DHX launched a strategic review, which was lauded by some analysts (and surprised others) at the time. The review led to shakeups amongst the company’s executives the following year, and the selling off of the popular cartoon brand Peanuts to Sony Corp. for $237 million, not long after the company had acquired it. In its 2017-2018 annual report, the Canadian Media Fund reported that kids’ content beat out drama in export sales revenue for the first time with $32.3-million in sales for 78 projects. It was the first time children’s content generated more export revenue than the drama category, which generated $27.4 million from 53 projects in those years. Earlier this year, the Shaw Communications Inc. Rocket Fund said it wanted the CBC/Radio-Canada to invest more in children’s programming. In 2017, Corus Entertainment Inc. and Discovery Communications Inc. announced an initiative focused on children’s content.

DHX rebranding as WildBrain

Brief | September 23, 2019

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DHX rebranding as WildBrain

Brief | September 23, 2019

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