Peppa Pig is nothing short of a phenomenon amongst young children as many fans flock to television screens and other devices every day to watch their favorite episodes. Peppa is only getting bigger and Hasbro just acquired the company responsible for the series today in a $4 billion deal. The toymaker acquired Canadian studio Entertainment One in a significant effort to bolster their holdings.
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Peppa Pig and PJ Maskskids are the top properties in the deal and that gives the toy company a big name to go along with some of the other smash-hit franchises that it holds like Transformers, Nerf, My Little Pony, Disney Princesses, Marvel, and Star Wars. That’s a lot of kids media under one umbrella, and it could be a concern for parents of young viewers to wonder if the acquisition will affect their child’s favorite shows.
eOne’s Canadian TV and Film process will continue as its own entity under the larger umbrella. Both Hasbro brass and eOne executives issued statements about the partnership and what it means for both entities going forward.
Hasbro chairman and chief executive Brian Goldners said in the official statement, “The acquisition of eOne adds beloved story-led global family brands that deliver strong operating returns to Hasbro’s portfolio and provides a pipeline of new brand creation driven by family-oriented storytelling, which will now include Hasbro’s IP.”
The Canadian company has an exhaustive TV library with theatrical distribution already built-in for the Canada, United Kingdom, Benelux, and Australian markets. eOne recently shuffled their upper management team around, making seasoned Hollywood producer Mark Gordan a force behind their productions after previously heading the company as president and chief content officer for film, television and digital.
Hasbro has gone on to say, “top eOne executives have agreed to join the Hasbro team,” without singling out any specific names.
eOne CEO Darren Throop sounded off on the news in the company’s own statement, “Along with our leadership team, I look forward to working with Hasbro on our joint growth and success for many years to come.”
“Hasbro’s portfolio of integrated toy, game and consumer products will further fuel the tremendous success we’ve achieved at eOne,” Throop continued.
Peppa Pig‘s brand is already mighty strong. Look no further than the “Peppa Effect” as christened by Romper earlier this year. Studies have shown an uptick in children adopting English accents after watching enough of the program. The development took some parents pretty off-guard, but it seems to be relatively harmless.
So, two powerhouse entities have joined forces, which means you can look forward to even more Peppa Pig merchandise on store shelves. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make it any easier to get that theme song out of your head.
h/t The Hollywood Reporter
