The Power Rangers franchise recently made big news after being acquired by Hasbro, and now that deal has been officially closed.
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Hasbro officially announced the closure of the Power Rangers acquisition from Saban Brands, a deal that has been valued at $522 million, which consists of a combination of cash and stock (via Yahoo Finance). Hasbro chairman and chief executive officer Brian Goldner couldn’t be happier now that the deal is officially done, and sees a bright future for the franchise.
“Power Rangers will benefit from execution across Hasbro’s Brand Blueprint and distribution through our omni-channel retail relationships globally,” Goldner said “Informed by engaging, multi-screen entertainment, a robust and innovative product line and consumer products opportunities all built on the brand’s strong heritage of teamwork and inclusivity, we see a tremendous future for Power Rangers as part of Hasbro’s brand portfolio.”
Saban previously sold the master toy license to Hasbro earlier this year, which was formerly with Bandai America. That deal was for $22.25 million, but that was credited against the purchase price of the new deal. Hasbro then paid $131.23 million to Saban Capital in cash and another $25 million in escrow. Hasbro will then pay Saban Capital another $75 million on January 3, 2019, and is also issuing 3,074,190 shares of Hasbro stock, which is valued at around $270 million.
Saban previously sold the Power Rangers franchise to Disney in 2001, which produced seasons from 2003 (Ninja Storm) to 2009 (RPM). Saban then bought the franchise back from Disney, kicking off the Neo Saban Era, delivering seasons like Samurai, Dino Charge, Megaforce, And Ninja Steel, as well as the Super incarnations of those shows. Now the franchise will change hands once more, with the first Hasbro produced show hitting in 2019 in Power Rangers Beast Morphers.
Fans will start seeing toys hit the racks from Hasbro in 2019, and it seems movies could also be in the mix according to Goldner’s previous statements on the Strategic Decisions Conference Call.
“As I mentioned, we’ve now announced the acquisition of Power Rangers. This is really a great statement about where we believe we are in developing our brand blueprint. The fact that we can acquire Power Rangers brand and plug and play that right into our strategy where we activate it in entertainment, motion pictures in the future and then of course across toys and games and consumer products and do so globally. We felt the brand was very under leveraged and undervalued. We feel we can exploit it to a much greater extent and it was a great opportunity to acquire the brand.”
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H/T Tokunation
